One of the problems, as I see it, with full-on legalization is it's a drug that gets smoked, and smoke is difficult to contain in the air, and every living thing breathes air. If I walk past or am near drinkers and I'm not drinking, I don't get it poured into my mouth against my will, but if I walk past or are near stoners and I don't want any, I don't have any choice but to either hold my breath or leave the area.

It's very similar to the problem with tobacco users, which recent laws have sought to mitigate. If pot were fully legalized there would have to be the same protections for the non-smoking public as there are against tobacco users.

For a city and state that is admittedly broke. We spend an awful lot of money prosecuting and imprisoning people for illegal drug use.

Mr. Grumpy - I think that's pretty much a given. I would expect that there would be something similar to hookah or cigar bars for those who wanted to partake outside their homes. There are already quasi-legal private clubs - often in association with dispensaries - where medical marijuana card holders can consume their medicine.

How long before Willy Week starts publishing on Zig Zag paper?

Forget smoke. Vaporize it.

Positive emphasis on pot hurts nobody accept those who profit from its prohibition.

THC and other cannabinoids destroy cancer cells and improve brain function.

Let's go after the substances that destroy brain function instead.

When I first started journalism school, the instructor kept insisting, even more than understanding the inverted pyramid of news writing, that we should all "write what we know". It's apparently quite common, and it helps explain why so many weekly newspaper writers and editors are so gosh darn enthusiastic about marijuana. After all, there's no market in writing about Star Wars action figures, masturbation, and the appropriate "my mom thinks I'm cool" responses to someone telling them "Get a real job, hipster."