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Mile High Book Two

You know what has long been missing from any conversation about legalizing marijuana? Nuance. That’s a societal (human?) failing on many issues, like gun control, abortion, climate change, etc. For most of these subjects there’s SOME middle ground to be had, but because of the political environment in this country honest conversations about these topics are impossible. And by “political environment” I mostly mean “Republicans;” let’s be real here. Anyway, this comic is about marijuana and I’m drifting into a political rant, so don’t mind me. What Mister V has done such a wonderful job conveying in these two volumes has been the nuances of the debate. In the first volume V (or do I call him Mister for short?), desperate for some relief from his irritable bowel syndrome, finally went with medical marijuana and dipped his toes into his options for staying supplied. Frankly, he could have used a “previously in volume one” summary somewhere; it’s never a good idea to count on the long term memory of stoners to stay fresh on all the details from a previous volume. Stereotype alert, I know, but it’s a good idea for all comics series. Anyway, in this volume we get to see our hero as he tells the parents of his wife about his pot use (always fascinating to see former hippies become moral scolds on the subject now), his misadventures in trying to get medical marijuana, the hoops he had to jump through to renew his license, and his journey to finally becoming more or less a pot connoisseur. Most stories I’ve seen about legalized weed tend to end right about when it gets legalized (at least for medical purposes), but V shows that that is not remotely where the story ends. He also tells the tale about a former co-worker who worked for her company for 20 years (and was demonstrably one of the best people on staff) and was unceremoniously fired after a different co-worker complained about this lady smoking pot. For her own medical situation. In a state where such a thing is legal. So yeah, there’s a long way to go before we can claim to be remotely civilized about this subject as a society, and we just elected the most famous con man in the country as president, so it seems likely that things will get worse before they get better. In so, so many ways; maybe this is why I’m on the constant verge of a political rant these days. Still, leaving all that aside, this is a thoroughly engaging and thought-provoking tale of a guy who is just trying to get some relief in his life and the various ways that his life throws up roadblocks to keep that from being remotely easy to do. He even managed to end this volume (the second of three) on a cliffhanger, one that leaves more questions than answers, so I’m very curious to see how he wraps all this up. Even if you’re not a fan of weed you could learn a lot from these books, and if you’re one of the moral scolds in question there is really a lot you could learn from these books. $10

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Mile High: Adventures in Colorado Medical Marijuana Book One

Hey look, it’s one of those rare occasions where the subject of the book I’m reviewing is topical! Well, for me, anyway. Ohio is voting in a few weeks on whether or not to legalize marijuana, and this book is entirely the story of a young man as he takes his first steps to getting medical marijuana after Colorado legalized it in 2000. Still, the legalization process was a mess, as it was still illegal in the rest of the country and the federal government was still eager to jump in and close down dispensaries whenever possible. Anyway, Matt (the hero of the book; possibly Mister V, possibly not) catches his niece smoking in his garage late one night. She’s smoking an e-cig or whatever it is that lets people smoke THC oil and not the plant itself, but as he’s letting her have it for smoking underage she catches a whiff of something and ferrets out his own pot stash. They take turns smoking using each others preferred method, which leads Matt to go into the story of how he got started. His basic problem was simple: Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This would cause him all sorts of digestive problems, and he takes some time going through the methods that he’s tried over the years to get it under control. He eventually discovers that smoking weed is the only thing that settles his stomach and gets him hungry enough to really want to eat, so he starts looking into the process of getting legal weed. The rest of the book is a descent into various levels of shady dispensaries, countless legal forms, waiting in lines, not being sure at every turn whether or not he was being scammed (spoiler alert: he was a few times). This is the first book out of three, so there’s clearly more to come in this story, but this volume tells a solid and complete story all by itself. If you’re against the concept of medical marijuana and think the “medical” aspect of it is a joke, you really need to read this to see one of the many ways in which it can legitimately be used to help a sick person. If you’re already on board with the concept (medical, recreational or both) then there’s plenty to love here, including his early stories of trying out the edibles in the absence of any indication on how much he should eat or how strong the food was. Everybody who’s ever had an edible has been there, and Matt came out of it better than most. Anyway, I almost said this was highly recommended, then I realized that there was a pun in there, so never mind. It’s just plain old recommended. $9