A CRITICAL GLANCE
By Adam Bushen
If you haven’t already noticed, Mellow Mood, a “pipe and tobacco” store (aka head shop), is opening its second Portland location, on Southwest Broadway and Clay Street. For those not hip to the lingo, head shops sell glass pipes, bongs and other smoking supplies and accessories.
Corinna Scott/VANGUARD STAFf
Though the products are clearly intended for marijuana use, the fact that weed is illegal forces establishments like Mellow Mood to publicly state that their products are “for tobacco use.”
While it goes without saying that Portland has a reputation for a lax approach to pot, it came as a bit of a shock to see that a head shop will be opening so close to the Portland State campus. Actually, given how close it is to Lincoln Hall, Mellow Mood could easily be considered “on campus.”
Having transferred to PSU from another university, I can confidently state that the shop’s proximity to campus is unconventional. At my previous university, the student body would have openly and vehemently opposed such a move (in fact, it successfully lobbied to prohibit a liquor store from opening in the vicinity of campus on three separate occasions).
No one’s foolish enough to believe that the presence of a head shop near campus will lure those who don’t already smoke into using marijuana. Its presence alone won’t derail any student’s academic career by hooking them on pot. But it doesn’t discourage the activity either, and although the store isn’t affiliated with the university in any way, its presence suggests that PSU allows for a weed-smoking culture.
Mellow Mood will make a statement about PSU, if only because of its proximity to it.
PSU’s image is at stake here. I can imagine a prospective student taking a leisurely tour of campus with his parents. They’re trying to get a “feel” for the place, and while strolling around the edge of campus they come across Mellow Mood. After having been impressed by the gorgeous Park Blocks, the excellent rec center and so forth, the parents suddenly become alarmed. They don’t want their kid exposed to marijuana use.
They figure Mellow Mood must’ve opened here because it’s expected to have a solid customer base, and in that moment they create a link between PSU and marijuana use. They become convinced that smoking weed must be not only common among students, but also open.
In this hypothetical scenario, PSU representatives can make any statement they like to these parents in order to distance the university from the head shop, but the connection is already established.
The fact remains that the head shop represents marijuana use, and its proximity to campus signifies a community in which marijuana use is prevalent, regardless of whether it actually is. Assuming the parents have a significant impact on the prospective student’s decision about where to attend college, they may attempt to persuade him to look elsewhere.
There may not have been anything PSU could do to prevent Mellow Mood from opening so close to campus. Because of its downtown location, it’s unavoidable that the campus is surrounded by unaffiliated businesses. But what surprises me is that there has been no discussion or open opposition made by PSU.
Regardless of a potential inability to prevent Mellow Mood’s setting up shop, an open opposition would have been a great public relations move. By doing so, PSU could have acknowledged that some people might make a connection between the university and the shop, and defend itself by claiming the school did all it could to prevent the opening. At the minimum, it would have helped preserve the school’s reputation.
While recreational marijuana use is no longer a cause for social panic (or enforcement, in the case of Colorado and Washington), it still carries negative connotations. With Mellow Mood being so near to PSU, those connotations may potentially start to apply to PSU’s campus.