Where to get stoned on the mountain...or not

Dear Stoner: Where's the best place to get stoned on the hill?

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More About

• Donald Downer
• Winter Park
• Vail (Colorado)
• Psychoactive Drugs
• Marijuana

Sparky Snowboarder

Dear Sparky: We don't mind a little puff on a powder day. But resort owners and the U.S. Forest Service do. Remember, there are only a handful of ski hills on private land. Most are located on leased national forest land — including all five that your Epic pass covers — and marijuana (medical or not) is still illegal at the federal level.

From our experience, ski patrollers tend to be cool as long as you're not blatant about it — but they aren't the only ones out there. There are also forest rangers, and in towns like Vail and Breckenridge, it's not uncommon to see police officers telemarking down the hill in front of you. They're mostly there as a publicity stunt and for the free passes, but cops do occasionally help out with drunks in the lodges, and they might not mind busting your hippie ass.

So while we would love to tell you that the Outpost Gondola at Keystone and the slow Alpine chair at Copper are great places to burn one down, or that you can sometimes find other people burning down in the smoke shacks at Breck or Winter Park, we won't. You'll have to find that out on your own.

Dear Stoner: Considering the issues facing our society today, do stoners really consider legalizing marijuana a priority? When every kid has a good school in their neighborhood, when our bridges and highways are not falling apart, when no one has to choose between food and medical care, then we can start talking about letting potheads get high on whatever and whenever they want.

Donald Downer

Dear DD: It's not just stoners who want marijuana legal. There are farmers, doctors, lawyers and even cops out there who want to see an end to marijuana laws in this country. See, when we stop prosecuting people for the victimless crimes of growing, possessing and smoking a little herb, we free up our time, money and resources for other things. While Amendment 64 is still being ironed out, the law says that the legislature will enact up to a 15 percent excise tax on ganja sold or transferred by a "marijuana cultivation facility" to retail stores and marijuana product manufacturers, with the first $40 million going to public schools.

And last I checked, we pot smokers like to get high on pot.