Update: Anti-pot resolution clears House/Eye on Boise

“Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States,” Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, told the House State Affairs Committee this morning, pitching his SCR 112, a Senate-passed resolution declaring that it’s the position of the Idaho Legislature that the state should never legalize marijuana for any use. “I think what this resolution is trying to do is just to make a statement that Idaho recognizes the problems that marijuana is creating in other states,” Winder said. “This is just a statement, it doesn’t change the law. … It’s just a statement on behalf of the Legislature of Idaho”/Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise. More here.

DFO: The bat signal for Brent is official lit.

Question: Why waste time making a statement re: pot when some future Idaho Legislature and the people of Idaho might legalize it some day?

There has been a lot of finger wagging about the Spokane City Council devoting its Monday night meeting to a public outpouring over the state’s new gay marriage law. Some of my co-conspirators in the media argue that council members should stick to topics that are within the scope of their control. That’s one way to look at it. The wrong way, alas. Now I won’t argue the logic. I agree it’s a waste of time for the City Council to get bogged down in nonbinding resolutions like gay marriage. And that’s a bad thing, how? Look at it this way. For this one glorious Monday evening … No parking meter rates were raised. Not one more red light intersection camera was installed. While citizens wrangled passionately over the definition of marriage, our hamstrung leaders couldn’t come up with any new ways to pick our pockets/Doug Clark, SR. More here.

Question: Would you rather see your City Council get bogged down on nonbinding resolutions involving topics like gay marriage than to handle its usual business?