The irony of California (first state to criminalize Marijuana) and Colorado (first state where the 1937 federal law was used in the arrest of a man for possession) forging the way to legalization, is particularly delicious.
Alcohol kills millions of people world-wide, both directly and indirectly, every year. Those who it does not kill are often left with the bruises and scars that it's consumption causes. Many never hip to this and end up functioning through their lives on a sub-optimal level, never knowing what went wrong.
Cannabis on the other hand is slightly mind expanding. Far from being a toxic substance that provokes and tweaks our less noble impulses, it fosters an attitude of realism, with a bit of mirth and whimsy thrown in to temper the heightening of the senses it serves up.
In other words: "Would you rather deal with a violent, irrational drunk, or a pleasantly stoned toker?"
The idea that letting only one legal inebriate drip into the fabric of society is enough, is riddled with paradox and completely flies in the face of human reality. We are a seeker species. The search for consciousness has replaced our naturally imbued need to seek and forage for food, excepting those who are still using those instincts for their original purpose. Even in cultures who are tied to a traditional cycle of existence, drugs are considered a necessary adjunct to day to day drudgery.
So few see that Coffee jones leaping up and confronting them every morning as a drug habit, or the obligatory highball after a long day spent performing meaningless tasks for money, as being something unnatural.
The world needs to lighten up and then light up. Pot is a gift from our Creator.
One day, society at large will see the folly of criminalizing a harmless plant.

22 Americans working for the CIA were convicted in Italian courts today of illegal rendition of a Muslim cleric off the streets of Milan who eventually ended up in an Egyptian jail where he was tortured. Egypt is a country where torture is practiced. 3 of the Americans were exonerated due to diplomatic immunity (one was the CIA station chief in Rome). All were sentenced to 5 years in jail.

Just what the F*** does this have to say about the rest of Western Civilization's opinion about America's prosecution of the war on terror??? IN FACT, the Italian courts found that these practices of rendition are more likely to bring about extreme acts of terrorism. These finding jibe precisely with former CIA officials who maintain that torture brings no meaningful information.

The Bush/Cheney regime was a bunch of war criminals

A tip of the skull to Sylvia Portajoli, NPR reporter, Rome.

of course they were tried in the absence and so will not serve any time.

The US spokesperson had the nerve to claim that the Italian court had no jurisdiction over the case. Over US citizens kidnapping people on Italian streets??? wtf

Can you imagine what would happen if the Italian Secret Police kidnapped those convicted from Washington and smuggled them back to Italy to serve their time? Talk about double standards.

I hear Fox News is trying to organise a National Pizza Boycott in protest, but even their viewers think that is taking things too far. ;-)