The media have no bleepin' clue how to cover the death of Whitney Houston. That's because she was slowly dying for years and many in the media simply averted their eyes.

It was ultra-disturbing that a beautiful woman blessed with an extraordinary singing voice chose a self-destructive path in full view of the world. I mean, here is a person who signed a $100 million recording contract, actually sold 170 million albums and commanded high six figures to deliver a 90-minute concert. Houston was a genuine international star, and yet she often was seen in public disheveled and confused, her substance addiction apparent. The media simply did not know what to say.

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The ramifications are "huge" if Missouri voters would approve a proposition to legalize marijuana in the state, the head of Franklin County's drug task force said.

A group of citizens under the title of Show Me Cannibis are collecting signatures on petitions to put the initiative petition on the ballot in November.

If approved it would, among other things, legalize the possession of marijuana for people 21 years old and older, allow for the state to collect a $100 per pound tax on marijuana sold at licensed cannabis stores, allow individuals to grow marijuana on their property for personal use in a 10-by-10 plot, and mandate the release of all people serving time in prison for nonviolent possession or sale of marijuana and expunge the conviction from their records.

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Moberly, Mo. - The Westran school district held a public forum Monday night at the high school to discuss implementing a student drug-testing program for students entering grades 7-12 who participate in activities outside of regular coursework.

The program included a presentation from Westran football coach Curtis Jasper, as well as information from John Throckmorton, of Employee Screening Services. A little over 40 people attended the forum, and they were able to ask questions and make comments.

Jasper shared the proposed policy, and added that nothing is set in stone yet. The school district first looked at the issue with a Student Drug Testing Committee. He said the reasoning for considering student drug testing was pretty basic.

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It would be great if our state went to pot Bernice and Wylie Williams walked along Delmar Boulevard in the Loop in University City late Thursday morning. Because they approached everybody they saw, they seemed, at first glance, to be panhandlers. But unlikely panhandlers. Respectable-looking. Kind of old for that sort of thing, too.

They were trying to collect signatures on a petition to put a measure on the November ballot that would legalize marijuana in Missouri. They are unlikely activists in this cause. Wylie is 73. Bernice is 69. They grew up in Texas and met at Texas Christian University. They married after Wylie graduated in 1961. Let me explain something to young people. What we now call the '60s did not start until 1966 or 1967.

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Booze and dope are evil. Kids have that drummed into them from grade school on.

Yet while teenage drinking continues a steady decline, marijuana use is on the rise among American teens, who see the warning message as bogus when it comes to pot.

"Marijuana has become the drug of choice," said Raytown schools Superintendent Allan Markley.

A new national study attributes increased marijuana use among America's youth to the common perception among teens that marijuana is less harmful than adults make it out to be, reinforced by the changing attitudes of the American public to pot.

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