High Times for Domainers

As the smoke clears from the news about students setting up a DMT lab in a Georgetown University dorm, this little bud of trippy drug news appeared in the NY Times: enterprising individuals are rushing to register marijuana-related domain names as California gets set to vote on a ballot proposition to legalize the drug for recreational use.

Kevin Faler, a former police officer, has already registered over 1,000 domains containing the word “marijuana” or its myriad euphemisms.  Among his stash are names like IceCreamMarijuana.com and MarijuanaPastry.com (clearly Mr. Faler knows a thing or two about the munchies), and also PotForDogs.com (he apparently knows nothing about dogs).  His plan is that, should the proposition pass and marijuana become legal, he’ll be able to sell off these domains quicker than special brownies at Burning Man.  He was quite blunt about his plans, saying, “I’m hoping to make enough money to buy a condo in Morocco,” where, ironically enough, marijuana is also illegal.

Mr. Faler’s operation is not the only joint turning weed-related domains into a blazing hotbox of activity.  Another chronic registrant is Jordan Zazzara, who has been registering domains containing marijuana terms with California cities, like ModestoCannabis.com.

These investors are hoping that if marijuana becomes legal, users will turn to the Internet for supplies, and then they’ll be able to deal these domains for thousands of dollars a pot – I mean, pop.  But the plan is not quite fully-baked: if the proposition doesn’t pass and marijuana remains illegal, there may be no demand for the domains, leaving these individuals looking like total dopes.

I wonder how many more domainers will dip their toes into the bong water, and how long it will take to weed out the best names before they’re all ganja.