Voices: Ore. legalizes pot, and nobody cares

PORTLAND, Ore. — What if we legalized marijuana and no one really cared?

That's the overwhelming feeling I get standing inside Zion Cannabis in downtown Portland as customers buy marijuana from the friendly staff  five days after legalized marijuana legislation went into effect Oct. 1.

No muss, no fuss.

Oregon is the third American state to legalize recreational marijuana sales, following neighboring Washington, where legal pot debuted in the summer of 2014, and Colorado, where cannabis has been legal since Jan. 1, 2014. Hardly anyone is paying attention.

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In contrast, the start of Colorado's legal sales — the first ever in the USA — drew international notoriety. Media organizations descended upon Denver to report on the long lines, tight supply and temporarily high prices. Late-night comedians joked about Denver truly becoming the Mile High City and how everyone in Colorado was Rocky Mountain High. I began to grouse about all the marijuana-related conversations I kept having with tourists.

Washington got a lot less press when legal sales began. And nearly two years after Colorado started the trend, the wider world's response to Oregon's legalization feels a lot like "meh."

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There has been little national coverage and even less international coverage.

Not that Oregonians themselves are indifferent. They bought $11 million  worth of pot during the first seven days of legalization, according to the Oregon Retail Cannabis Association, dwarfing the early sales in Washington.

“It’s a fun kind of experience,” said Stephanie Hess, 22, after buying a small amount of marijuana at Zion. “It’s awesome to have informed people to ask questions of."

"You know what you're getting. It's a fun a kind of experience," said Hess who opted for an eighth of an ounce of Blue Dream, a popular strain known for giving a euphoric high.

Having spent the past two years covering the marijuana industry, all the attention that gets paid to the notion of legal pot has often struck me as disingenuous. That's because marijuana is the most widely used illegal substance in the country. If you've never tried it, well, statistics demonstrate that your friends and neighbors and family members probably have.

It's no coincidence that the first three states to legalize recreational marijuana use started by legalizing medical marijuana. Over the years, marijuana advocates have made no secret of their "camel's nose" approach: By cracking the door to medical use and demonstrating that adults can use marijuana safely, pro-legalization groups laid the groundwork for broader access and looser laws.

Those looser laws haven't changed life or culture much in Colorado and Washington and are unlikely to do so in Oregon. Are there fears about potential upticks in youth use? Absolutely. Are there concerns some people have ingested too much and needed to be hospitalized? Sure. But there has been no apocalypse. By and large, life in Colorado is pretty much the same as it was pre-legalized pot.

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The next big test for legalizing marijuana will come in California in 2016. If legalization passes in America’s most populous state, more than a sixth of the nation's population would live where recreational marijuana is legal. That sure starts to feel like an unstoppable trend.

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Of course, this could all change significantly if Americans elect a president opposed to legalization. But here’s the thing: All three states with legal marijuana sales (plus Alaska and the District of Columbia, which have legalized using pot but not selling it) have seen voters make that decision. It wasn't a mandate foisted upon them by the Supreme Court. Outsiders didn't make them do it. No, they chose it, and it's certainly starting to feel like really not that big of a deal.

As I stand here in yet another marijuana store, watching customers come and go, I can't get a line from The Hollow Men by T.S. Elliot out of my head: "Not with a bang but a whimper."

Hughes is USA TODAY's Denver-based correspondent.