With Thanksgiving upon us, it's time to take a good, hard look at what we are thankful for. Here in the Green Zone, we're thankful for cannabis. But, why are we thankful, exactly?
Everyone who reads this section is sure to have their own reasons. For me personally, there are two that stand out above all others. One allows us to consume with ease, while the other puts our wallets at ease. Both are a direct result of cannabis legalization in Washington, and I am thankful for that as well.
MOVE IN SILENCE
As a young man, before legalization was approved in 2012, consuming cannabis meant stinking up wherever you chose to smoke. Because that was just about your only option — smoking it.
In the years since, dispensary shelves have overflowed with countless ways to consume cannabis. Sure, edibles are scentless and subtle, but consuming cannabis through the stomach produces a completely different high than consuming it through the lungs.
That's where the vape pen comes in as a hero of inhalation.
It provides the same quick-hitting action of smoking cannabis without any of the smelly smoke. Whether you're a recreational user trying to conceal your fun or a therapeutic user just trying to dodge draconian public-use laws — people can smoke cigarettes on the street, and they stink worse than weed, but public cannabis use remains illegal — the vape pen has been an underappreciated hero.
I'm thankful for portable vaporizers for helping bring cannabis into the open, without anyone knowing.
BANG FOR OUR BUCK
On one hand, Washington taxes cannabis consumers more than any other state with a legal market in the entire country. Consumers have to fork over 37 cents on every dollar spent on legal cannabis.
On the other hand, cannabis is incredibly cheap here in Washington. A 2024 analysis from the Oxford Treatment Center found that the average cost of an ounce of "high-quality" cannabis in the United States was $326. In Washington, however, the average cost was just $233 per ounce. Only neighboring Oregon, at $211 per ounce, had cheaper cannabis.
Despite the taxes, prices are actually cheaper on the legal market than elsewhere. A 2021 study from the University of Waterloo in Canada found that legal cannabis in Washington was less than half as expensive as illicit cannabis in the state.
I'm thankful for the legal market helping to slash prices, not to mention for raising a ton of tax revenue. ♦
