Don't Bogart that Joint, Steve;

I forget what the exact figure is, but I believe that we could reduce the prison population in The States by over half, if we only released those who were convicted of minor drug laws like possession of marijuana.

Mostly the fault of the right wing, these people have been treated in a way that would make any other nation hang it's head in collective shame.

I bring this up because I was just reminded of a guy called Steve Tucker.

When Steve emerged from prison a year ago, he was a 50-year-old man starting over from scratch, as reflected by his modestly furnished apartment.

A year has now passed since Steve Tucker made his unheralded return to Atlanta.

His one-bedroom flat, tucked into a sprawling Sandy Springs apartment complex, is furnished sparsely: a recliner, TV, computer and a small, picnic-style table that serves as both dining hutch and desk. The stark white static of the walls is interrupted only by three small, web-like dream catchers tacked to the Sheetrock.

It's the sort of Spartan minimalism one might expect of someone who, until recently, had to content himself with staring at bare cinderblock.

"Watch out, you're talking to a notorious ex-con." Wrapped in a sharp Middle Georgia twang, Tucker's voice betrays a suppressed smile. The slight, balding, 50-year-old Atlantan is hardly an intimidating figure.

But he's only half-kidding. Nearly a decade ago, he was sent to prison as a result of a once-infamous federal drug case that sparked national outrage for its rough interpretation of justice.

In the spring of 1994, the Tucker family received lengthy prison sentences -- 10 years for Steve, 16 years for his older brother Gary, and 10 years for his brother's wife, Joanne -- without possibility of parole, for the curiously worded federal crime of "conspiracy to manufacture marijuana."

Yet federal prosecutors never charged them with buying, selling, growing, transporting, smoking or even possessing marijuana.

An 18-month DEA investigation had failed to turn up direct evidence connecting the Tuckers to even a single joint.

Instead, they were locked away for selling the lamps, fertilizer and gardening hardware from the small hydroponic supply shop Gary operated on Buford Highway that enabled their customers to grow pot.

In the mid-'90s, the Tucker case became a cause celebre among libertarian activists and other advocates of marijuana legalization. It served as an oft-cited, cautionary example of the runaway powers of the federal government and the worst excesses of the War on Drugs.

To show you how ridiculous it is, we have a guy in Canada Whose name is Mark Emery.

I am rather familiar with his case since he was from London and I used to see him around town.

Mark is being sought by the U.S. government for much the same reason that Tucker was put into jail, selling paraphernalia.

The kicker is that he is a Canadian and has not broken ANY Canadian laws.

Now I don't smoke weed myself because I don't really like it, but I do believe it's less harmful than booze because I know from first hand experience what each can do. Believe me, weed is a pussycat when compared to alcohol.

And while we are on the subject, what about tobacco?

What a hypocritical society we live in!!!

Your scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com