�Թϲ�����

For my first day back to work I dressed in a sober navy sweater and a pair of dark slacks. Normal haircut, neatly trimmed beard. I got there early to avoid the morning rush and the inevitable stares and whispers. I had been “away with some issues” — that was the official company line, but offices are gossip hotbeds, and I wondered how much of the real story had filtered through. Did they know that I’d marched through the city for 12 hours — manic, psychotic and convinced I was being videotaped by secret TV producers, the star of my own reality show? That the police had found me later that evening shirtless, barefoot and crying on a subway platform? That I’d been involuntarily committed to Bellevue, the notorious psych ward to which we at Legal Aid routinely sent our most mentally ill clients? (Zack McDermott, 9/20)

"This is going to be bigger than bingo," James Billie told CNN over the summer. A former chief of the Seminole, whose company MCW gives financing and legal counsel to American Indian tribes to help them grow and sell marijuana on their land, Billie could barely contain his excitement about this new venture. (Naomi Schaefer Riley, 9/19)

Let me be blunt: I used to smoke weed. I have notebooks filled with very profound and original observations about the interconnectedness of all beings to prove it. But, I haven’t burned one down for more than a decade. So, when I suggest that Kentucky legalize recreational marijuana, it’s not because I have a toke in this fight. Instead, Kentucky lawmakers should stop puffing and start passing legislation to legalize weed for two reasons: It’s the right thing to do, and it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do. (Ben Carter, 9/19)