It's interesting how a little change in perspective can alter the way a perceived problem is addressed. Take the issue of illegal drug smuggling. Two countries are prioritizing different "drugs" that are being targeted for eradication and according to their standards and success indicators they are cracking down like a horde of caffeinated chiropractors. These successes have resulted in larger volumes of illegal contraband being confiscated than ever before.
The question facing the regulatory agencies is what to do with all this contraband now that they have it? For Sweden this amounted to over 185,000 gallons of alcohol that was seized by the Custom Service last year. While they used to pour it down the drain this much alcohol required a new solution to the disposal problem. Fortunately for the Swedes they were able to think outside the box and soon realized that the alcohol could be used as an alternative fuel for the public transportation system. I guess they sort of intuited that material collected by a public agency should be first used for the public good.
Here in the United States our priority drug to eradicate is marijuana. The National Drug Intelligence Center estimates that the "eradication team" of cooperating agencies ripped out over 2, 200 metric tons of marijuana in 2006. The reader is advised that the above link takes you to a page of an unknown government agency providing information on illegal activities here in the United States. What kind of agency is this, really? And what happens to you if you click on the site?
What do we do with most of the seized marijuana? Why here in the United States of America we burn it. That's right, we set it on fire, not only to waste a valuable medicinal plant but also to throw away a fuel source while adding to the problem of climate change through the release of greenhouse gases. We don't have the sense to utilize the material for anything positive. Instead, we try to make it go away as quickly as possible because, you know, people could like fire up and veg on the couch while voting for American Idol.
Now I want to be the first to campaign for the use of all confiscated marijuana in this country as a fuel source for public transportation or at the very least sent to a plant that burns agricultural waste for electricity generation. I mean how naive can we be? We spend all of this money to collect the marijuana and the best we can do is burn it? Please!!!!
Besides, I'm so tired of smelling the veggie oil Mercedes wagons stinking up the highways as they burn McDonald's fryer grease. I would much rather be pleasantly surprised to pull up behind an unassuming city bus and catch a whiff of White Dwarf or Purple Haze coming from the tail pipe. It would certainly make my commuting so much better knowing my community was using green fuel in public transportation. And who knows, it might even be the boost that we need to get more people to get on board.
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