After years of enjoying the pair in the shadows, pizza and pot lovers came together publicly Friday night to celebrate the legalization of recreational marijuana in Ohio.
Close to 40 people spread out throughout GoreMade Pizza’s spacious patio as the intermingling aromas of pizza, a bonfire, and burning weed punctuated the air and atmosphere of the Italian Village restaurant.
“Fire It Up Friday” was a gathering to celebrate the end of marijuana prohibition, which took effect Thursday after legalization received overwhelming support in November. The event Friday allowed attendees to reflect on the long journey to legalization, share in their widespread relief and even express tinges of paranoia, worried that lawmakers would do something to repeal the new law.
As attendees talked and laughed, some took the opportunity to light up themselves, a sense of freedom on their faces as they took their first legal tug of the divisive plant. The 1936 film “Reefer Madness,” a melodramatic movie meant to exploit fear of marijuana and its users, played in the background. The juxtaposition between the exaggerated and outright lies about the effects of marijuana and the weed smoke that permeated the air were apparent.
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“It feels great to finally have that stress off your back,” Trevor, 22, of Delaware County, told the Dispatch during an interview at the gathering. Trevor, who has been smoking weed since he was a teenager, expressed his excitement about the possibility of being able to grow weed at home and looks forward to more marijuana-friendly events similar to Fire It Up Friday.
He also wants to see lawmakers expunge the criminal records of people who have been arrested for marijuana possession. He himself said he was arrested for marijuana possession when he was 17 and was forced to participate in drug rehabilitation programs.
Chris, who moved to California from Ohio 30 years ago and then returned in 2021, said that it was “about time” that the state legalized marijuana.
“It’s kind of silly it was illegal for this long”, Chris said.
Both participants requested their last names not be published out of concern for how some would react to their use of the now legal substance.
Ohioans approved Issue 2 on November 7 with 57% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the election. The initiated statute made Ohio the 24th state to legalize marijuana and allows adults 21 and over to buy, possess, and grow marijuana.
While lawmakers are still debating over changes to the law, such as scrapping home grow and changing where revenue from marijuana is distributed, there hasn’t been any push yet to repeal the law in its entirety.
@ShahidMeighan
smeighan@dispatch.com
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