Two polarized camps dominated the pot conversation last year: On one side were stoners doing gravity-bong hits, and on the other side were cops warning that legal pot would lead to toddlers freebasing heroin. But one group was left out of the discussion entirely: people who had never smoked pot—because pot was illegal—but planned to try the stuff when voters legalized it.
I tracked down a few of these greenhorn stoners.
Eric and his wife, Jenny, smoked pot for the first time last December, just after Initiative 502 became law. “Our first foray into getting pot involved me deliberating for two weeks before reaching out to a neighbor to score us an eighth,” he says. “I finally got the courage to ask her via text message.”
Taking up pot smoking has been a healthy bonding experience for the couple, Eric says, because, among other things, they tend to stay home more, get stoned, and cook dinners together instead of heading out to a restaurant. The middle-class couple eat healthier, and he’s lost 40 pounds since February, partially due to the fact that they now drink just once or twice a month instead of three or four days a week.
