'IF POT IS SO BAD...'

If pot is so bad for people, how are so many outstanding athletes able
to smoke it?

The Iowa Hawkeyes' Derrell Johnson-Koulianos (DJK) finished the
regular season with 46 receptions for 745 yards and 10 touchdowns,
making him Iowa's career leader in receptions and receiving yards.

He admitted earlier this month that he smokes pot.

Hawkeye running back Adam Robinson was busted over the weekend for pot
possession.

If marijuana is so dangerous, why aren't these men collapsing on the
field, rather than breaking records? And why is Willie Nelson alive?

The anti-pot arguments that have been used for so many years have
grown tiresome, and more and more people are recognizing their folly.
At the same time, the expense of prosecuting pot users is getting the
attention of people who will go to their graves believing a single
joint can lead to brain damage but have had enough of the cost of
criminalization.

Consider the family of accused marijuana farmers who were busted last
month by the Scott County Sheriff's Department, which, of course, was
only doing its job. The police found and confiscated more than a dozen
pot plants.

They used two police vehicles to haul away lights, plants, soil and
fertilizer.

Detectives then spent two weeks interviewing people, including the
family members, before arresting the two adults and one teenager on
charges of possession of cannabis. The three were booked into the
Scott County Jail where, of course, they received food and housing.

Each is being represented, at taxpayer expense, by different public
defenders. The county attorney's office will prosecute them.

As the taxpayers' receipt grows longer, you might ask: Where are the
victims? Why am I paying for this?

"I think, for the most part, they were just growing it for
themselves," Scott County Sheriff's Lt. Bryce Schmidt said.

But considerable public resources go into protecting this family from
itself. And that's only if you believe the pot was hurting them.

At least one family member quoted the Bible to police as justification
for the marijuana use, Schmidt said.

Curious, I Googled "marijuana" and "scripture" and got 233,000 hits
(so to speak). I read everything from defense of the "God-given herb"
to God's offering to man of every "seed-bearing plant" in Genesis.

I'll bet those drug dealers on Interstate 80 say plenty of prayers
when they see a squad car behind them, all lit up. Between February
and December of this year, the cops took 813 pounds of pot off I-80 in
Henry County alone. And that was just five arrests.

Month after month, another trunk load comes along. How does that
suggest the system is working?

If we're going to be honest about danger, we have to be prepared to
admit one giant truth: Alcohol is far more dangerous than pot could
ever aspire to be. Pot most certainly has the potential to impair
drivers but not like alcohol.

Sadly, we read almost daily about booze-related fatalities. But
alcohol prohibition is long dead, and you know why, right?

For starters, go to any bar within a block of a U.S. state capitol,
and you are certain to find at least a six-pack of legislators at the
bar. Besides, there's too much money in it.

Hurting states, such as Iowa and Illinois, could become financially
healthier if they decriminalized pot, too. Not only would we save
unimaginable sums on arrests, prosecution and incarceration, but think
of the money states could make by harvesting a product that is in
great demand.

It would not be the answer to all that ails Illinois (or Iowa)
finances, but it would make more sense than turning football players
and families into criminals for burning a weed.

Of course, all of these arguments are old, too.

But that's the thing about pot: It doesn't change much. Our
perspectives do.