As my boyfriend was cooking dinner for the two of us last Wednesday, I sat down to read that… As my boyfriend was cooking dinner for the two of us last Wednesday, I sat down to read that day’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A letter to the editor regarding Tommy Chong’s recent, paraphernalia-related arrest, his movies and our country’s Operation Pipe Dreams ruined my appetite.

The person who wrote the letter actually found comfort in the fact that, after Sept. 11, 2001, our country has used its resources to wipe out drug paraphernalia.

I don’t take comfort in that – it terrifies me.

At a time when national security should be our highest priority, I find it disconcerting that our government is devoting this amount of effort to seizing bongs.

The writer of that letter also stated that our government should go a step further with the marijuana nonsense and “seek out and silence every person who knowingly watched the [‘Cheech ‘ Chong’] films.”

Have I accidentally taken LSD and tripped myself into George Orwell’s “1984?” Does this mean that movies depicting bank robberies and drive-by shootings should also be banned? Does it mean that “That ’70s Show” – which, before all of this crap, Chong guest starred on – should go off of the air because Kelso and pals regularly sit in the Forman’s basement to light up? Maybe the hilarious Cheech ‘ Chong smoked real cheeba-cheeba onscreen, maybe they didn’t. Who cares? That was 30 years ago.

Homosexuality is less taboo now than it was 30 years ago. Pregnancy without marriage is less taboo now than it was 30 years ago. Violence is less taboo now than it was 30 years ago. Divorce is less taboo than it was 30 years ago. Yet, while all of these things were becoming more and more acceptable, smoking a doobie is more taboo now than it was 30 years ago.

Locking up Chong isn’t going to solve America’s “marijuana problem.” Nor will raiding Tela Ropa and snatching glass pieces.

What about the millions of people who already own paraphernalia? Do the higher powers realize that it is possible to smoke pot out of an apple, a pop can, a piece of aluminum foil or a plastic, two-liter bottle and a tub of water?

Perhaps the next step for Operation Pipe Dreams is to raid major supermarkets and rid them of their apples. That is not cool – apples are quite nutritious and tasty.

You can smoke pot in Canada and Amsterdam; some states allow it to be used for medicinal purposes. Of course, those ridiculous TV ads – you may have seen them – tell us that money spent on drugs ends up funding terrorism. I don’t buy it, but if it were true, why not legalize? Then the money would come to us. And, perhaps more importantly, drugs would be carefully regulated, creating a situation like that in Amsterdam, where you can be sure that the ganja you are smoking isn’t laced with harder drugs.

With Chong locked up, people are going to raise torches – read: bongs, bowls, and joints – to him in tribute to his comedic antics as well as his online head shop. There are far more dangerous drugs available to teenagers than pot. According to a story that ran on news channel KDKA in December of last year, marijuana use among teens has declined, while their use of heroin and cocaine has remained steady. It’s pretty hard to overdose on pot, but heroin and cocaine can easily do you in. So hey, let’s lock up Tommy Chong!

While we are a long, long way from legalizing the least harmful recreational drug – keep in mind that alcohol is a drug – America needs to spend its time and money on more useful causes.