Life, liberty, and the pursuit of mellowness.

• Author: Hightower, Jim
• Position: Cannabis growing competition at the DC State Fair; Willie Nelson plans to market marijuana - Vox Populist - Column

Earlier this year, music legends Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard teamed up to make a pro-marijuana video titled, "It's All Going to Pot."

Apparently they were right, for now even the state fair has gone to pot--literally.

A press release from the organizers of the DC State Fair, an annual event in the nation's capital exclaims: "It's true! For the first time ever, we're hosting a new contest for local cannabis growers to show off their plants' finest buds."

They're not just blowing smoke. The District of Columbia City Council voted in February to legalize marijuana, including letting locals grow up to six plants at their residences. Now the proud cultivators of the happy weed are being invited to show off their produce.

And why not? State fairs already have contests for best ice cream, pickles, homebrew, compost, flower arrangements, crafts, and such--so it's not a stretch to see who can win the Marijuana Bud Blue Ribbon. The buds are judged on looks, smell, and stickiness, but not such consumer-satisfaction qualities as "duration of high" or "development of mellowness."

In fact, the entry form for the Best Bud Contest specifies rather sternly that judges "will not sample or consume your submission." That's probably wise, lest the panel of judges dissolve into uncontrollable giggles.

From the demonization of marijuana to legalization and now to celebration, there is a trajectory of progress that reflects some mellowing in society itself. Marijuana prohibition is finally ending in states and cities across the land--including full legalization and/or commercialization not just in Washington, D.C., but also Alaska, Colorado, Washington State, and Oregon. (Find out more at Marijuana Policy Project, mpp.org, and NORML, norml.org.)

And now Willie Nelson, the iconic musician and intrepid fighter for justice...