Lure surprises some

The complexity and lure of the contemporary pot market surprises even some veteran users such as Wade, who started smoking as a teenager.

As a grown-up, he cited occasional hives and rashes to get a physician's recommendation. That entitled him to shop dispensaries featuring scores of marijuana varieties. They include cannabis sativa plants — said to produce a cerebral high; indica plants — considered body relaxants; and crossbred plants said to offer both medicinal effects.

Some strains pack a greater psychoactive punch than Wade was ready for. "I found them too strong," he said.

Wade has a favorite -- "Blackberry Kush," an indica strain he says has "great flavor" and crystal-like texture that "looks like someone took the buds and rolled them in sugar."

The new culture is luring back former pot smokers, too.

Robert Girvetz tried marijuana more than 40 years ago, indulged for a few years and moved on with little nostalgia. But then, well into his 70s and "very much retired" from running a window-covering business, he was reintroduced by friends and relatives.

A cousin gave Girvetz a vaporizer that let him use pot without lighting up. Preferring marijuana to cocktails, he savors it "once every couple of months, just for kicks."

Girvetz did have one notable bad experience. "I ate a whole (pot) brownie when I shouldn't have," he said. "I almost had to crawl out of my chair to get into bed."