When you think of the state fair, a few things come to mind.
You might think of how the best pies are judged, or the fattest pigs weighed. In Oregon, though, there’s a bit of a twist: marijuana growers can now compete for the prestigious blue ribbons for the best pot. Not kidding.
Next month at the state fair in Salem, organizers say that the weed will be judged on color, aroma, leaf structure and lack of bugs. All solid factors.
“We regularly reach out to the community with some form of education, to de-stigmatize the industry and the plant,” Don Morse, chair of the Oregon Cannabis Business Council, told leafly.com this week. “For the people at the state fair to let this happen is really groundbreaking.”
The inclusion of marijuana in a state fair speaks to its suddenly booming reputation as a cash crop and its growers as the future farmers of America, at least in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Alaska, and Washington, D.C., where, since 2012, voters have approved legal recreational use of marijuana. It remains illegal in the eyes of the federal government.
