New Retirement Home Hobby: Growing Weed
Life in a retirement community can be pretty bad for some people. But for elderly potheads, like the members of one California medical marijuana "pot collective" at Laguna Woods Village, it's not that bad! Or, at least it wasn't.
They hang out, play bingo, grow and smoke some dank ass bud, and hang out some more. But a group of snitches at Laguna Woods Village called the Golden Rain Foundation (heh), the community board that makes the rules, aren't feeling the pot collective's vibe. Lonnie Painter, founder of the pot collective there, explained everything to the AP:
"We've got people who don't like it here, they don't like marijuana and they still have that ‘communism' and ‘perversion' and ‘killer weed' attitude," said Painter, who has shoulder-length gray hair, a white goatee and wears several gold necklaces. "What I get more worried about is myself getting put in jail. If you were just a patient you'd be safe, but if you are active and involved in any way in making it available for others, the federal government can come and scoop you up."
He misses the good old days at Laguna Woods Village, when he could do this more freely:
When things first got under way, Painter and three others were growing about two dozen plants with names like Super Silver Haze in the Laguna Woods Village community garden. Photos show his 800-square-foot plot overflowing with marijuana plants taller than a grown man butting up against the staked tomatoes and purple flowering clematis of other gardeners.
That's no joke. It also pissed some people off. Who could possibly be against something like this? Grouchy ass old people who are also likely to yell at you to get off their goddamn lawn, that's who:
"We thought that it was not proper. It sets a precedent. Our gardens are for flowers and vegetables, and that's all, and it's been that way since 1964 or 1965 when this was started," said Howard Feichtmann, who was chairman of the Garden Advisory Group. "We thought that's what it should remain and not get involved with medical marijuana or anything else that is considered on the fringe."
Thankfully, a benevolent member of the collective has been growing weed for the group at another location since the snitches wouldn't shut the hell up about the early 60s and whatnot. We say let them grow weed, jerks.
[Image via Shutterstock]