Pubdate: Thu, 03 Oct 2013
Source: Westword (Denver, CO)
Column: Ask a Stoner
Copyright: 2013 Village Voice Media
Contact: http://www.westword.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.westword.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1616
Author: William Breathes

WHAT WAS ROB CORRY THINKING?

Dear Stoner: So last week you said Denver was a pretty tolerant place 
to light up outside of sporting events, and then pot lawyer Rob Corry 
gets arrested at Coors Field. What's up with that?

Para Noid

Dear Noid: Rob Corry's arrest on September 25 is a good example of 
exactly how you shouldn't use cannabis in public. For starters, 
police say he was in the smoking section of Coors Field when he lit 
up a stinky, smoky joint. At the very least, a one-hitter would have 
been a much better way to keep the obvious use down - but Corry 
should really get himself a vape pen if he wants to toke in public in 
a stealthy manner.

But the public use really wasn't the issue here. According to the 
report, when police asked Corry to hand over the joint, he told them 
that he didn't have to give it over because marijuana possession is 
legal in Colorado. Corry is right about possession being legal, but 
smoking marijuana in public isn't - and he knows that. Instead of 
weighing the outcomes and simply handing over the roach (much like 
you would have to do with an open container if caught drinking in 
public), he allegedly became defensive, raised a stink and began 
personally insulting the cops. So they arrested him for failure to 
comply with orders instead of simply giving him a public-use ticket 
and sending him on his way (as they did with the woman with whom he 
was toking up). We get it: That's his right, and he may even get part 
of his "refusing to comply with orders" charges thrown out in court - 
but that doesn't mean forcing a confrontation was a very bright idea, 
especially when it lands you in jail. As my Vietnam-vet uncle 
frequently says, "Not every hill is worth dying over."

Dear Stoner: Where did the bong come from?

Tubular Ted

Dear Ted: While the general theory is that water pipes developed in 
Asia and the word "bong" comes from the Thai word baung, according to 
historian John Philips in the Journal of African History, from 1983, 
the bong was created in Africa much earlier and then brought to Asian 
countries. Not only that, but Philips argues that bongs were designed 
specifically for cannabis smoking, as cannabis predates tobacco in 
Africa. Philips's theory centers on a set of eleven cannabis pipes 
dated to around 1100 A.D. and the 1945 discovery of a water pipe in 
Tanzania that was found to contain cannabis residue. He argues that 
Asian cultures ate cannabis rather than smoked it, and therefore the 
pipes were indigenous to Africa. He even theorizes that the name 
"bong" comes from an African tribe called the Bong'om.e
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