I find that most natural things that are beautiful lose their beauty in direct proportion to the amount of "use" by humans. National Parks come to mind.
In the macro homo sapiens are like a cancer devouring the planet, in the micro there are individual people who are truly good to their core. Everything we are part of is the result of billions of years of evolution playing out particular algorithms, and either this huge most likely random experiment will succeed, or it will fail. As far as I can tell, as a set of biological parameters existing within a closed system, in geological time our future will be very short. But that's just how I see things, we all make up our own stories. If you're lucky you make up a happy one.
So, sort of on topic, Oregon is just another casualty of overpopulation of one dominant and destructive species. Other states are far ahead of us in that respect. I still love it here, and having seen most of this country, there is no place I'd rather be. In terms of growing pot, I'm glad it's legal, and our outdoor season gives us a lot to work with. Given our great -- if a bit short -- sunny summer, for me an automated light dep system over a greenhouse would be the holy grail of growing in Oregon.
We won't know until someone is looking back after the fact, but I wonder what impact the legalization of cannabis will have on our self-destructive trajectory. There could be a trend towards simplifying, less consumerism, a general "mellowness" and well being that moves us away from wars and short term gains over long term impacts. Or, it could contribute to passivity, to the over-indulgence in the ever growing ocean of streaming entertainment and video games and it could hasten our demise by facilitating our collectively putting our heads in virtual sand.