Thoughts on pot, legal and not

The excitement of the year in our little neighbourhood came yesterday, courtesy of a shoot-out at a house a mile and a half down the road. The owner of the house is a legal user of medical marijuana. He also has his house licensed as a premises for growing his medical marijuana. He had a break-in at his house in January, apparently, and another one in the early hours of yesterday morning, for reasons which are instantly rather obvious.

The owner of the house apparently heard noises downstairs, took out his .22 pistol, and went to investigate. He found a man with a shotgun standing in his living room, so he did what any smart person holding a .22 pistol and looking at a man with a shotgun would do - he made damn sure he fired first. But the man with a shotgun had brought friends, and the final outcome of all this was one 19-year-old in intensive care, another with a bullet wound picked up by the police running away, and the house-owner having shotgun pellets removed from his shoulder. I'm guessing he'll be needing a little more of that medical marijuana of his.

I'm all in favour of legalising marijuana for medical use. Heck, I'm in favour of legalising it full stop, since all prohibition does is encourage violence and make some deeply unpleasant people very rich indeed. But while one form of pot is legal and another not, am I the only one who thinks it's bloody stupid to have it grown in surburban houses at not-so-very-secret locations? Dear Washington State legislature, perhaps it might be smarter to grow it at dedicated premises, with security, and hand it out by prescription....