The ever-quotable Amy Lathen nearly got booed out of the room when she used the word ‘pot’ at a meeting in which El Paso commissioners discussed ways to zone medical marijuana outlets.

“Cannibis! Cannibis!” shouted several people in the room.

Turns out, the members of the burgeoning medical marijuana industry wants to separate themselves from the hordes of pot-smoking hippies.

Marijuana grower addresses commissioners

That’s like separating the image of mom from apple pie.

It’s also a little disengenuous when you buy your pot, or rather, cannibis, at places like WeedMaps. com.

County commissioners weren’t smoking pot, but they seemed almost high this week as they pondered ways that they could zone medical marijuana dispensaries.  

Conejos County Commissioner John Sandoval started off the hilarity at a statewide meeting of Colorado Counties Inc. by holding up what appeared to be a couple of joints, a bag of weed and some marijuana brownies.

All fakes, he said afterward, grinning from ear to ear. In a way, his showmanship was a good metaphor for the confusion surrounding the medical marijuana controversy.

Is the guy smoking a joint in the car next to you suffering from some debilitating disease? Or is he just catching a buzz?

A cop who pulls a suspect over has to have some sharp detective skills. If the driver’s young and buffed and has a a snowboard or a bicycle on the roof, chances are he’s getting stoned.

Then again, maybe not.

He may have injured his back  as he was screaming down some mountain trail  and could be suffering from severe pain, nausea and muscle spasms, which state officials say are the three leading reasons why patients use medical marijuana.

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