Accompanied by friends, I decided to make my first Cannabis Cup in Clio MI over the weekend. Thinking we’d let the initial throng float in before we showed up, we arrived about 3:15 p.m., thinking that we’d waltz right in. Were we in for a rude surprise!

Apparently, thousands of others thought similarly, arriving at or about the same time. The lines were hours long. It took us almost three hours to get in. The sea of humanity was peaceful though. More on this in a minute. People were queued up, in the hot sun, and 81 degree temperatures. There had to have been some pretty nasty sunburns the next day! Thankfully, I was not one of the casualties.

Sure the crowd was smoking cannabis openly and abundantly. And many of the people were high. No big deal, and, in fact, to be expected. However, what struck me, no, struck isn’t a sufficiently descriptive word-gobsmacked is more like it, was that despite the conditions and hours of waiting, the crowd was PEACEFUL!!!!

What was missing? Alcohol. While there were some were drinking beer, the overwhelming majority of people were only consuming cannabis. I saw no fights. Very few health issues-about the only things I saw looked sun related. No vomiting or any of the other unpleasantries associated with drinking.

I’ve not had a drink for over 11 years, and I can honestly say that there’s not been a single day that I’ve missed it or wanted to drink. A lifetime inventory of my screwups occurred when alcohol was involved.

All socioeconomic groups were represented at Cannabis Cup, from Rasta wannabes to Rolex wearing yuppies. And likely all political persuasions too. Yet things were PEACEFUL. I was there for almost three hours and saw ZERO police interventions. It was a lovely day; something that I’ll definitely do again.

High Times Cannabis Cup is coming back to Michigan in August. Memo to self: acquire VIP tickets.

Cannabis could be a unifying issue in the next round of elections. It is well past time to take cannabis off of Schedule 1.