Rueters posted a great article on our governments never ending and failed war on marijuana. “America’s marijuana prohibition drew into its 72nd year this month. It has created a huge underground industry catering to users, helped the U.S. prison population balloon into the world’s largest, and diverted the resources of American law enforcement. What it has not done is keep Americans from using marijuana.”

The article sites several eye opening statistic including the fact that, ”since 1937, the year marijuana was outlawed, its use in the United States has gone up by 4,000 percent.” For the first time since Senator Edward Kennedy introduced legislation to decriminalize marijuana back in 1978 another representative, Congressman Barney Frank, has stepped up to the plate to introduce, “a bill before Congress that would eliminate federal penalties for the personal use of marijuana by responsible adults.”  

“The case for legalizing marijuana, the most widely used drug after alcohol and tobacco, rests on several planks - the most obvious being that prohibition simply hasn’t worked despite extraordinarily labor-intensive and costly government efforts. In 2006, the last year for which figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigation are available, 830,000 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges, most of them for possession rather than trafficking. That works out at a marijuana arrest every 38 seconds. A study last year estimated the cost of these arrests at $10.7 billion.”

I don’t expect Congress to pass this bill or ever really exercise common sense but it’s nice to know a few of them do.

A Colorado group is lobbying for the right to be able to smoke pot in Airport lounges across the country.  The group SAFER (Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation) will ask the “government” to allow smoking in these lounges across the country.  On the off chance this passes I would invest heavily in airport vending machines.

Just imagine “marijuana lounges” in airports across the country.  No doubt this will definitely reduce the stress typically associated with air travel.  However contact highs will probably lead to further flight delays so at this point it’s a wash.  At least the people in airports will be a little more interesting and colorful.