The Other Shoe Falls

I used to joke that I have been full circle, from the time where people left bars and restaurants to hide behind dumpsters in the alley to smoke weed, to present where the people I meet in alleys are all smoking cigarettes. Now this: Denver-becomes-first-us-city-to-allow-pot-in-bars-restaurants.

Won’t be long before two guys smoking on the sidewalk, one will go to jail for smoking a cigarette and the other will go free for smoking marijuana. Making such a distinction is not helpful when the behavior is the same.

Currently, in most jurisdictions, the behavior-smoking, is legal. The substance being smoked is either legal or illegal. In the example above, both substances are legal, it is the behavior coupled with the substance that is banned.