His task is grass

Reporter’s career high point: giving legal pot a shot

DENVER — This is your reporter. This is your reporter on drugs.

Last week I flew to Denver to be among the first Americans since 1937 to legally buy marijuana without a prescription. It was a disorienting experience, and not just because I got stoned.

First off were the long lines outside the city’s 18 recreational-pot shops.

Then there was the stunning variety of government-sanctioned Mary Jane. At the 3-D Cannabis dispensary downtown, my “budtender” had me choose from six completely different strains of ganja.

I said I wanted something that wouldn’t leave me unable to get off the couch, but instead would give me some pep and inspiration.

“The Trinity,” he answered without hesitation, “is awesome for creativity.” I looked in the jar and saw grass more white than green — evidence of a high THC count. I ordered a gram, plus an individually packaged joint.

A Colorado resident is allowed to buy 28 grams at a time, while a visitor can buy 7. But my single gram of Trinity and the joint would be more than enough.

The price for each was $13, plus $5.52 in state tax, for a grand total of $31.52. The state’s medical marijuana patients call this exorbitant, but there were no complaints from the customers around me. I smiled, too.

The whole transaction felt more like ordering a sandwich at a deli than buying black market narcotics. In fact, the customer service was much better than at my corner deli in Greenpoint.

Purchase in hand, I headed to the house of the only guy I know who gets paid to smoke weed and write about it. He goes by the pen name William Breathes and has reviewed hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries for a local paper.

Breathes smokes some of the best marijuana in the world, so I was happy to hear him pronounce my Trinity “not bad.” We talked about how legalization made the whole smoking experience feel like a normal part of life, and how some people might miss the illicit thrill and feeling of rebellion.

As we sat under a cloud of sweetsmelling smoke I felt peppy and inspired, just as my budtender had promised.

This was no Cheech and Chong hippie weed. This stuff made me awake and almost jittery, like I’d consumed too much coffee. But in a good way.

Eventually a soft haze settled in and I examined the package my Trinity came in. On the front was a State of Colorado, Marijuana Enforcement Division tax stamp. On the back was a warning that read: “Recommended dosage 1-2 inhalations, wait 10 minutes before additional inhalation may be needed.”

It was good advice.