With the five growers shot in Northern California this summer by officers and the more recent shooting in a Kneeland garden, sometimes the marijuana world feels like its at war.

But the part of the culture I love is its joy in life and its playful side. Often times the tension between official and grower feels more like a game than a war.  And the players are the officers as well the growers.  In the past, CAMP has been known to leave notes taunting the growers.  Here is one:

“You tried to beat the system by growing in the sun

We just want to thank you for providing us such fun.

We know that you all hate us

But we don’t really care

We found your plants and cut them

Who said that life was fair?”

Just recently, on Sunday, after  raiding a pot patch, the local sheriff’s deputy stopped at our hospice benefit with large cannabis plants strapped all over his official vehicle. Knowing that a goodly number of the supporters at the event were growers donating, he jokingly announced that this was his donation.

The growers love a joke about the strain between the two sides.  In fact, a grower at the hospice event went up to the deputy and shook his hand with a doobie palmed in his other.

…and as he walked away from the cop, he showed a joint in his hand and said in (fake) amazement “wow, look what the cop just gave me!” and so legend was made. The whole place was retelling the story all day.

See both parts of the story here and here at one of my favorite blogs, One Good Year.