Library staff aroud the country review magazine subscriptions every year, adding titles depending on patron interests, and this year Hood River County Library in Oregon have noticed that those interests include marijuana.

So Buzzy Nielsen, the library director, wondered: Why not put High Times on the shelf?

“I think people would read it,” said Nielsen. “We have a pretty diverse patron base here. We certainly have plenty of people who use medical marijuana.”

As it happens, a medical marijuana dispensary recently opened near the library in this picturesque town famous for wind surfing. Hood River County, home to about 300 Oregon medical marijuana patients, sits across the Columbia River from Washington, where recreational marijuana is legal. The library allows residents of several Washington communities to check out material.

“I think it would be a good resource in communities that area really dealing with legalization and having it more prominently in their community,” said Watkins, library director at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, where marijuana is a popular research paper topic among students.

Here’s one way to look at it: People drawn to the library by their interest in reading High Times may stick around to browse the stacks.

Think of it, said one librarian, as a “gateway resource.”

SOURCE: oregonlive via therepublic