Waiting to exhale

Well it 420 and if you just got on the internets yesterday for the first time, this refers to the "pot smokers' holiday" based on code phrase of undetermined origins for meeting up to smoke some. Anyway, what better day to take a look at our current crop of presidential wannabes' position on the plant. Mojo collects some amusing anecdotes. This is certainly my favorite:

Mitch Daniels: As a student in Princeton, the Indiana governor was arrested in a police sting that netted two size-12 shoeboxes worth of marijuana, along with LSD and drug paraphernalia. Daniels was cited for pot possession but got off with a $350 fine for "maintaining a common nuisance." He told the Daily Princetonian in 1988 that because of the arrest "any goal I might have had for competing for public office were shot," and later called the incident an "unfortunate confluence of my wild oats period and America's libertine apogee" (far out!). As governor, Daniels has endorsed alternative sentencing for non-violent offenses like pot possession as a way to reduce prison overcrowding.

And you have to give Gary Johnson some props for political courage in admitting to using medical marijuana for three years. Looking at the wider view, this is a good illustration of how societal norms evolve. We've come a long way from the days when the only non-career killing answer to the question was, "Yes I tried it but I didn't really inhale."

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]