In what may prove to be a no less of a shock to the street price of an oh-zee of primo California Skunk than Katrina was to oil prices, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department has announced the seizure of $28 million worth of weed from a remote canyon in the western Santa Monica mountains.

Dude. No.

That weed was so not hurting anybody. Let it go. Let it be free. And no, I'm not just saying that out of some knee jerk reaction against the War on Drugs. I'm saying that because the future of California may well depend on that dope.

In these uncertain economic times, any hiccup in comsumer spending could bring the whole teetering house of cards that is the California economy down upon our heads. Don't believe me? Let's imagine, then, a California without weed:

A California where sales of Big Gulps and frozen burritos plummet, sending 7/11's and AM/PM's everywhere into a economic tailspin. Where Carl's Jr., In-N-Out, and Pizza Hut have to lay off employees due to the precipitous slide in munchie-related sales. Where Sublime's back-catalogue CD's sit gathering dust in Tower Records bins all across the Golden State.

Frightening, isn't it? But there's more.

Who, I ask you, will create the California slang that is one of our chief exports, if skater dudes and wannabe rappers across the state are deprived of the weed that drives their linguistic explorations? Whither "the shizzle", "chronic", "spliff", or that all time classic, "dude"?

What will screenwriters use to stoke the creative fires as they craft yet another masterful car-chase scene, if pot is not available? How will stressed-out Westsiders take the edge off another hellish day spent shuttling up and down the 405, without weed? How will kids in the Valley pass their school lunch hour, without a little shake to put in the one-hitter?

Surely, it must be obvious that California (or "Cali", per our stoner friends) is not California, without weed.

Free the weed, Sheriff Baca. Free the weed, and then fire it up.  ¶ 10:22 AM