Picture this: It’s time for a refill on your cannabis stash. You send a telepathic message to your robot, Serena, and tell her you need a fresh ounce. . .
Serena hops into your fully electric flying car and arrives at the dispensary that rests at about 400 feet above ground, just south of the Alberta Street arts district. Before leaving, she did a quick Google search and confirms that there’s a fresh batch of Bruce Banner concentrate on the shelves. It’s your favorite strain, and you’ve been waiting three days since the last grow cycle ended. Yes, Oregon growers have figured out how to cultivate a marijuana plant through all phases in a matter of hours. That’s 2050 in a nutshell.
Everybody is toking up with a sense of happiness and peace, as military warfare and almost all the diseases that have plagued the human race have now been cured. The workday has been cut down to four hours because almost everything is automated. That gives you more leisure time and opens up your schedule to enjoy the ultimate 35th-anniversary party from High 5 Tours. Their little yellow pot plane flies you to a grow farm, where you select everything you want in a strain — cerebral uplift, creative burst, fruity taste, no paranoia or couchlock — and the growers cook up a fresh batch of your personal nugs as you’re watching. Wow, this process used to take several months!
Luckily, the beautiful city of Portland is still intact. After puffing on a joint of G-13, you take a stroll through Washington Park and have a seat near the Japanese Garden. It’s a beautiful day. You set your personal weather machine to 75 degrees, sunny with a slight breeze — exactly how you like it. About 30 feet away is a hot dog stand, and an edible cannabis stand right next to it (that became legal in 2027). Pedro, the owner of the stand, suggests the 50-milligram Cannabis Cola, perfect for cooling you off on a warm personal weather setting.
Pedro asks if you saw the game of touch football streaming through your virtual reality device last night. The NFL was outlawed in 2041, but this non-violent version of the game is great. Plus, every week the players get on the field and pass around a huge joint before the game starts. There was also a funny new commercial on for Cannabis Cereal. It was right after the commercial for Mary Jane Chicken, the organic cannabis-infused food restaurant that just opened up next to Voodoo Doughnut.
The marijuana industry is the primary employer in the state of Oregon. The southern part of the state is still a prime spot to grow outdoor weed, and cannabis is now the major export from Oregon. Since all 50 states legalized recreational cannabis in 2029, growers in Oregon ship over a million pounds of herb per year to destinations all around the country. They also export internationally, and the worldwide distribution center in Eugene has helped the United States erase its $50 trillion national debt. License plates say “The Cannabis State” in big letters, proudly declaring Oregon’s new motto.
It’s your friend John’s birthday, so you have a hologram video conference and tell him you want to take him to that Robot Pink Floyd concert in Beaverton, as long as Serena finished repairing your teleport device. John says sure, after he stops by the governor’s house to do some dabs and talk about world peace.
You miss your family. The good news is they’re going to take a quick space shuttle trip from their new home on Mars next month so they can try some of that Kanye Kush, named after the former president. There’s a monument dedicated to President West in the Pearl District, for it was he that drafted the Cannabis Federal Legalization Act in 2029. During President West’s third term, he passed a bill requiring all vehicles to be run on hemp oil. He’s now sculpted into Mount Rushmore.
Oregon’s cannabis community is still a close-knit group, much like it was back in 2017 and before. Growers and dispensary owners take long weekends to visit Asia or South Africa. Sometimes they fly their cars over to the island of California for a nice day trip in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Yes, it’s a great time to be an Oregonian. Somehow it still feels like the 1960s, a modern hippie movement that believes in THC and chilled-out living. Peace and love to all, including the robots.
At the end of the evening, you take a bong load of Purple Haze and plug into your memory uploading device. This was not a day to forget, and you want to remember it for the rest of eternity. Someday you will recall this moment and replay the video to future generations, so they can experience the Oregon Cannabis Boom era themselves.
