In the feel-good story of the day, an image of a pig -- the infamous 1960s-era epithet used by protesters and hippies for police officers -- has wound up on a decal used on as many as 30 Vermont State Police cruisers.

​By Benjamin Wright

This is not a call to arms or an indictment of the government for failing to preserve the liberties our forefathers enjoyed, vis a vis the growing and smoking of marijuana, but instead consider this a call to honesty, a reminder of how important the truth is.

When used as an argument for the prohibition of marijuana, the Gateway Theory is interpreted to mean that if an individual experiments with cannabis, they are more at risk to consume dangerous illegal substances than they otherwise would have been.

Hey, that weed smells like... a publicity stunt! Veteran comedian Joan Rivers freaked out some American TV viewers on Tuesday by smoking marijuana on her reality show.

~ Bob Dylan

Welcome to the duality of honesty. 

Clancy is a master-grower. He lives deep up on one of those canyon drives that seems so off the beaten path that it's hard to believe someone actually lives there.  Barely in his 30s, Clancy's a kid in terms of the hills and cultivation, but unlike many of his youthful contemporaries, he studies the old ways.

Northern California Correspondent

​The Federal raids have begun again in California. Starting in sunny San Diego, with the intent of plowing north, not stopping 'til Eureka.

They're not cherry-picking anymore. The first assault arrived last year when the Feds went for the low hanging fruit, closing dispensaries that were situated within a thousand feet of a school. It didn't matter if the school was operational or not. One of the schools was a ballet studio that was exactly 999 feet away. No leeway. No discussion. You're closed. 

The restrictions are the same for dispensaries near parks, playgrounds, and other locals where the kinder may be occupying. Because it's always about the kids... Except when it comes to liquor stores and strip clubs, they're copacetic.

Then there's Market Street Coop in San Francisco, which was closed because of a nearby school that moved in after the dispensary opened. That didn't matter, nor did it matter that there were 13 drinking establishments within the same radius. Obviously these saloons and booze emporiums are zoned for preschools, middle schools, bartender schools, just as long as it isn't a place people that distributes non-federally taxed medicine to sick people.

Already we have three major contenders for Dumbest Pot Story of the Year, which certainly points to an interesting year ahead in the cannabis information wars.

Do we really need a study on the best cure for "cannabis withdrawal"? Do people really choose to use marijuana because they were born with abnormally small brains? And speaking of brains, did you know that THC coats your brain cells and makes it hard for you to think, at least according to a self-appointed "drug expert"/counselor in Colorado?

There's a lot of rank ignorance out there to wade through, and it ain't pretty. Let's put on our hippest hip boots, shall we?

The clear winner, so far, is the impending study from Australia on the efficacy of using... wait for it... cannabis to treat cannabis "withdrawal"!

​So now that other organizations' and TV networks' various Top 10 lists are out of the way, the Marijuana Policy Project says it can safely release its annual Top 10 list without getting caught in all the clutter.

According to MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia, the following list comprises the 10 most significant, positive developments relating to marijuana policy reform in the U.S. in 2011.

To see explanations for each of the 10 items, you can read Kampia's column in the Huffington Post today, Friday, January 13.

1.  Congress de-funds the White House Drug Czar's ad campaign.

2.  MPP's ideal bill is finally introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Ron Paul and Barney Frank -- a bill that would let states determine their own marijuana policies without federal interference.

3.  Public support for "making marijuana legal" reaches an all-time high of 50 percent.

One night in another life, I and another comedian were returning from a gig in Northern Oregon. We had decided to red-eye the drive, making it to San Francisco without stopping. After crossing the state line into California, we thought we had it made. 

About a half an hour after the border, my rear-view mirror lit up with the reds, blues and yellows of a cop's lights a-flashing. 

I pulled over. It was like three in the morning.

Toke of the Town's resident cartoonist Jerry King was inspired upon learning from a new study that -- unlike tobacco -- marijuana doesn't impair lung function.