The strange tale of Mike Boyer, first weed buyer in Spokane

Mike Boyer of Spokane, Wash., is a living, breathing, human roller coaster.

Boyer was riding a soaring crest when he was excitedly the first buyer of legal marijuana in Spokane on July 8. A KREM-TV crew even followed him home to film him as he cracked open his bag of legal weed and smoked up — bonus.

“I wanted the title of being the first guy to buy legal marijuana in Spokane,” Boyer told The Associated Press. “It only comes once in a lifetime.”

But Boyer hit a new low when he learned that one of his employers had seen the televised broadcast and wanted him to submit a drug test. As the story quickly went viral, even the New York Daily News picked up on Boyer’s plight in the Pacific Northwest.

True story: Did you hear about the man who got caught with 19 bags of weed in his socks — at the courthouse?

A few days later, Boyer again hit soaring heights when he learned that his job had been reinstated by employer TrueBlue Labor Ready. Score, Boyer!

“I’m actually all right,” Boyer told NBC News. “It all worked out.”

Seattlepi.com took a deeper dive into the matter with a play-by-play from Boyer, who shared his interactions with TrueBlue and another of his employers, Kodiak Security Services, which also got pulled into the fray.

According to NBC News, a TrueBlue spokeswoman said there was a misunderstanding about Boyer’s work schedule that led to the request for a drug test.

“When we realized that he was not on assignment, we reinstated him. … Pot is legal, and we know that,” Stacey Burke said.

That’s not to say Boyer couldn’t have pursued a career in the marijuana industry. National cannabis jobs website 420careers.com issued a press release July 11 saying it had reached out to Boyer offering to help with his job hunting.