States are still, Awash in drugs, Biggest problem’s Not the thugs.

Dissidents used to be burned at the stake for suggesting that the Earth might in fact be round and revolve around the sun, or for uttering other like threats to the natural order of common belief. Well, most of us have accepted those dangerous apostasies by now, though I’m not so sure about Rush Limbaugh.

Rarely does someone conjure an idea about the San Joaquin Valley so brilliant yet so obvious that I smack my forehead and say, "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?"

But Cliff Schaffer, a national marijuana advocate, shared just such a revelation after reading last week's column about America's woeful marijuana prohibition.

The Valley has the highest unemployment rates since the Great Depression: 20 percent plus (in some areas), Schaffer began his e-mail.

With California getting serious about legalizing marijuana, can university business courses be far behind? No, believes the Treatments, Herbs and Cannabis Foundation.

The program, which would initially offer a bachelor of science degree in business administration, would be "intended for the student who wishes to be involved in the evolution of today's marijuana industry."

Snoop Dogg is the boss you dream of -- if you're a pot smoking employee who is looking for someone to take the rap.

A few hours ago, cops in Norfolk, Virginia got a tip that a suspicious package had just arrived in the mail from Canada to the Norfolk Plaza Hotel, where Snoop and crew were staying.

HARTFORD -- An early afternoon committee deadline Tuesday killed a bill that would have decriminalized penalties for possession of up to half an ounce of marijuana.

The bill, along with legislation that would have prohibited smoking in the state's casinos, died as the Legislature's chief opponent to the pot legislation, Sen. Antonietta Boucher, R-Wilton, talked at length on the marijuana bill through the early afternoon deadline.