Justices in a sensible mood?

As I try to ignore the fact that the Supreme Court has a strangle-hold on gay marriage today, this news comes out of the court:

The Supreme Court says police using a dog to sniff outside a Miami-area house being used to grow marijuana violated the homeowner's constitutional rights.

Could it be that they're in a sensible mood? Or are they trying to get sensibility out of their system so they can go wild as they attack gay marriage? BTW, Alito isn't happy with this decision.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissent, saying police did not trespass on the property by coming up to the front door with the dog. Alito also said people cannot expect that odors will not make it outside a house, where they can be detected by dogs. 

Have you ever looked at Alito? There is fear in his eyes at all times. The message his facial expression sends to me is, "I know I'm scum and don't deserve to be in this position." The guy has no confidence. None. He's like an adolescent -- and dangerous for that very reason.

Because it makes so much sense

Have you seen the latest Olympic news? The headline says Disqualified for Cannabis.

LONDON -- American judo fighter Nick Delpopolo was expelled from the Olympics for doping Monday, saying he unintentionally ate something before the games that had been baked with marijuana.

So let's play this out. They disqualified him because marijuana will give him an unfair advantage? Have you ever seen stoned people play sports? Duh. This makes no sense at all.

Marijuana inhibits HIV in late-stage AIDS

Read the full story for the details, but it seems marijuana helps people with AIDS to fight HIV, at least in late-stage AIDS.

But I was taken by the usual drug lobby take on the phenomenon. Yes, it works but it:

"...causes the drug high associated with marijuana, making it undesirable for physicians to prescribe."

Because you know how undesirable getting high is, especially when you're really, really sick and looking for relief. They say they want to:

"...prevent further progression of the disease without the undesirable side effects of medical marijuana."

Damn those undesirable side effects! I mean seriously, people. They're talking about the high as if it's the bad part. Duh. This country has a bizarre relationship with marijuana.

The marijuana scam

The next act has begun. I've been telling readers that the reason Obama attacks everything marijuana is the backroom deal he worked out with drug manufacturers. They don't want you to gain any benefit from a simple plant that you can grow in your yard. They want to sell it to you.

The way they'll do this is by manufacturing something similar to marijuana, something they can patent and sell to you at an exorbitant price (while arresting you if you engage in simple gardening). The first stage in the main war has begun. Here's the key excerpt:

"[M]arijuana advocates fear that the government will use any new prescription products to justify a continued prohibition on marijuana use."

Uh-huh. That's the plan.

More on Mayor Mikey's pot mania

The Mayor of Money, Mike Bloomberg, don't like him no black or Latino people, especially the young ones. So he uses pot as a device to obtain their data and fingerprints. You know, so he can arrest them later on and prevent them from bothering rich white people, i.e., his pals.

And you just watch. Mikey's gonna explode very, very soon over the OWS protests. He just doesn't get it. Why would all those people hate bankers, i.e., his pals? It just doesn't make sense to poor Mikey.

Bloomberg is the exemplar of the out-of-touch rich guy who lives in a money bubble. I hope he gets in a ton of trouble over this. He won't, of course, for the simple reason that he has money. In our current version of the United States, if you have money no one can touch you. I wonder what that feels like.

Why the feds raid legal marijuana dispensaries

It's simple, really: money. Let's start with a similar tale and then work our way around to marijuana. Remember when people used to be able to afford cigarettes?

Little by little, government put exorbitant taxes on cigarettes while outlawing smoking in more and more places. They said they did it for our health. Funny, that.

As the government worked to make it virtually impossible to continue smoking, the drug industry simultaneously set up companies to market nicotine in manners other than smoking. They produced nicotine patches and gums -- and then stumbled upon the holy grail: Commit Lozenges (now called Nicorette Lozenges). It's a pill you can suck on to get your nicotine. Isn't that convenient?

Nicorette Lozenges really work. I can confirm this. It's exactly like smoking a cigarette, but without the smoke. These lozenges are advertised as a means to get off cigarettes. But in the real world, people either go back to smoking cigarettes -- or they use the substitute product on a permanent basis. Yes, they get off smoking but they stay on nicotine. As a result, tobacco is out and the drug industry is in. How fortuitous for them! In case the message didn't get through, what I've just described is the wholesale transfer of an addiction from one legal party to another.

Alcohol kills; guess what doesn't?

"GENEVA — Alcohol causes nearly 4 percent of deaths worldwide, more than AIDS, tuberculosis or violence, the World Health Organization warned [in early February].

"Yet alcohol control policies are weak and remain a low priority for most governments despite drinking's heavy toll on society from road accidents, violence, disease, child neglect and job absenteeism, it said.

"Approximately 2.5 million people die each year from alcohol-related causes, the WHO said in its "Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health."

But you can buy it everywhere in the country, and the deaths march on. On the other hand, you can be sent to jail for marijuana possession, despite it being a harmless drug. What's wrong with this picture?

No one has ever been killed by marijuana. As we all know, people smoke marijuana and become, if anything, more peaceful. Drink alcohol and go out and stab people or hit them with your car; smoke a joint and listen to music. That's pretty much the spectrum, yet the first is legal and the second is not. Again, isn't something obviously wrong with this picture? Our country has a totally incoherent posture on drugs, particularly marijuana.

Am I just going to complain about this? Certainly not. I've taken pro-active steps to change public opinion. In each of my three books, marijuana is presented in a positive light. One of my goals for my books is to repair marijuana's reputation.

Mind you, I still caution that young people should avoid it. I've told my nephews this. Let your brain mature fully (which doesn't happen until your 25th year; sorry guys) and then you can smoke dope as an adult, if you choose to. It does not have a good effect on the adolescent brain.

But overall, in terms of common sense, marijuana should be available to the public. And we need to rethink our cheery view of drinking alcoholic beverages. Just saying.