Betcha can't smoke just one

Who’d have thunk it?

The medical marijuana program in Oregon is going up in smoke.

The limited program that voters approved in 1998 has expanded, well, like a mushroom cloud.

Supporters said then that only about 500 people a year would need to smoke pot to get relief from terrible diseases like cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, etc.

Oregonians, being a tolerant lot, said OK.

Nine years later, things have changed. A lot.

Today, the program has exploded to nearly 15,000 “patients,” as they are called in the Beaver State. Another 1,700 new or renewed applications are filed each month. These days, folks want legal weed to deal with conditions that aren’t exactly life-threatening, like back pain or menstrual cramps.

In three southwestern counties, an average of 1 resident in 89 is a card-carrying toker. (Must be a lot of sick folks there.)

More than 7,000 other Oregonians get pot privileges because they are “caregivers” to “patients.”

Cops estimate that 40 percent of the state’s licensed pot growers have broken at least one law — most commonly the one against growing too much cannabis.

That’s not surprising, since a pound of pot sells for about $2,500 on the streets.

Because of all this, some folks in Oregon want to repeal the program. Or at least scale it back.

But the pot smokers won’t hand over their joints and bongs without a fight.

I called up an old friend in Oregon who’s enrolled in the program (sinus condition, sore knees) and he seemed determined to defend it:

“Dude, it’s like, wow, let us do our thing, because we’re not, like, hurtin’ anyone, y’know? … I mean, it’s like, uh … what was I talkin’ about?”