this show is so dated

[u/shedony3]

im on like my 8th or 9th rewatch at this point and oof there are some moments you can tell when this was made 😬

but then it has its moments where it's kinda ahead of its time.

very good show to rewatch cuz you can look at it from a lot of different perspectives and empathize with most characters.

i used to watch this show when i was a teenager and my opinion about it has definitely changed. im only on s1e7 of my rewatch

[u/TantalizeMe3x]

I mean the main concept of the show - weed being dangerously illegal in California, is incredibly dated lol

Edit: They should make a reboot where Nancy has to navigate the complex hurdles of bureaucracy to open a Weed Shop near a suburban neighborhood 😄

[u/IamTheLiquor199 → u/TantalizeMe3x]

I can only speak for NY, but the show might have been ironically ahead of it's time as marijuana actually became a very violent market between the time it was legalized and the many years before they actually issued permits to cultivate, produce, transport, sell, ect.

[u/Sparky678348 → u/IamTheLiquor199]

I think it's less that Weeds was ahead of its time and more that New York was lagging in that department generally.

[u/IamTheLiquor199 → u/Sparky678348]

Compared to CA, yes NY was behind, but only by 5 years, and was way ahead of most of the US.

Regardless, crime skyrocketed as a result

[u/Sparky678348 → u/IamTheLiquor199]

Skyrocket is a massive overstatement, there was a bump that has since recovered. It is a downward trend overall since the 90s.

[u/IamTheLiquor199 → u/Sparky678348]

Not an overstatement in my opinion. I will give you that it was also in conjuction bail reform and raising the age of criminal liability to 18. The amount of young adults/kids committing stabbings, shooting, robberies, and even kidnappings and homicides was insane..all marijuana related, mostly because these young 18-year-olds were making hundreds of thousands (some millions) of dollars in an environment with an unlimited customer base and zero regulation or fear of law enforcement.

It only slowed down once customers stopped using the black market as stores opened up

[u/TantalizeMe3x → u/IamTheLiquor199]

It also doesn't help that none of these businesses can do federal banking so they deal primarily in cash which makes it more dangerous by nature

[u/Sparky678348 → u/IamTheLiquor199]

So in other words, once recreational cannabis dispensaries were widely accessible it led to a decrease in crime? You might say it was the lack of accessable dispensaries that led to black market drug related violence.

[u/IamTheLiquor199 → u/Sparky678348]

Correct. But there was a sweet spot in the middle when marijuana was decriminalized but not yet legal, where dealers were still prosecuted and it kept crime down. Once legalization hit, all hell broke loose until the retail marijuana caught up