Under a microscope, it's easy to tell really good marijuana from schwag. Look for trichomes. On the best pot, they cluster, thick and crystalline, indicators of potency. If you're training to become a professional pot dealer, as I was last fall, it's important to be able to pick out the good stuff. Your livelihood will depend on it. Fortunately, I had expert instruction, along with strains of varying quality to examine for my pedagogical benefit. Ranked from best to worst, they were Blueberry, Grand Daddy Purple, and Mango. Appraising them was, truth be told, slightly nerve-racking, since the assignment was sprung as a sort of pop quiz. It was part of an advanced seminar on growing and selling marijuana in which I had enrolled at the Los Angeles campus of Oaksterdam University, a new trade school founded in Oakland and devoted to the booming business of growing and dispensing medical marijuana. [continues 790 words]
William J. Bennett Has Made Millions Lecturing People on Morality--and Blown It on Gambling. "We should know that too much of anything, even a good thing, may prove to be our undoing...[We] need ... to set definite boundaries on our appetites." - --The Book of Virtues, by William J. Bennett No person can be more rightly credited with making morality and personal responsibility an integral part of the political debate than William J. Bennett. For more than 20 years, as a writer, speaker, government official, and political operative, Bennett has been a commanding general in the culture wars. As Ronald Reagan's chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, he was the scourge of academic permissiveness. Later, as Reagan's secretary of education, he excoriated schools and students for failing to set and meet high standards. As drug czar under George H.W. Bush, he applied a get-tough approach to drug use, arguing that individuals have a moral responsibility to own up to their addiction. Upon leaving public office, Bennett wrote The Book of Virtues, a compendium of parables snatched up by millions of parents and teachers across the political spectrum. Bennett's crusading ideals have been adopted by politicians of both parties, and implemented in such programs as character education classes in public schools--a testament to his impact. [continues 1482 words]
Recruiting America's Superheroes For A Comic Battle. In 1998 President Clinton introduced a five-year, $ 1 billion program aimed at keeping kids off drugs. The program sought to coordinate the efforts of local police, federal agents, advertising executives, school administrators, teachers and parents. It allowed White House officials to insert antidrug rhetoric into TV shows. With that much manpower, you'd think drug czar Barry McCaffrey would feel confident he had everything necessary to end drug abuse. Apparently not. He needed another weapon, one larger than the powers of Washington and schools and the police combined. So who did McCaffrey enlist in the fight against the ultimate evil? Spider-Man. [continues 1265 words]
