17 "marihuanaland" Preview Party

We invited 12 guests for 6:30 and had prepared a lot of food and wine,with brownies for dessert. My sister and brother-in-law´s studio/barn was perfect: big with a big screen TV. Around 7:00 we showed “marihuanaland.” There were whoops and hollers and laughs in all the right places.  The problem was, we all agreed that cannabis should be legal, so there was no one to give us the other side. But everyone wanted to know why we spelled marihuana with an “H”*.

image by sphaera / sxc.hu

Hard to believe that a year ago we (the film team) were in Oakland, California to shoot “marihuanaland”.  The night we showed it there was an “Occupy Wall Street” riot in the city. Very strange to see streets on which we shot with protesters and police obscured by tear gas. But then I remembered that they expected the same thing when I was there doing leg-work. The stores were ready. They boarded up the windows and the center almost looked abandoned. Oakland is used to riots and the police are prepared. Still there were a couple of serious injuries.
Like last year a vote is coming up. Only this time it´s in Palisade, Colorado. There´s a proposition on the ballot to close the only medical marijuana dispensary in the region. Grand Junction (40,000). the biggish city nearby has closed all of their´s, although medical marihuana is legal in the state of Colorado. One of the guests was the owner of the Palisade dispensary – she was quiet and thoughtful about the future. She and her husband have worked hard to build their business, comply with all the laws, pay their taxes and serve the area. But it might all go down the tubes. The vote is tomorrow. No one is taking any bets. I remember last year in California.  Everyone we talked to thought it was a sure thing. But Proposition 19, the initiative to make small amounts of pot legal lost by 7%. 
 
*As far as we can tell, the original spelling.
 
Lesson 22: When you show your doc live be prepared for questions.
 
  Next week: 18 What´s It Called?