Former talk show phenomenon Montel Williams is in trouble with the law after he went through airport security with a metal smoking pipe cops say is used to smoke marijuana.

Milwaukee TSA busted Williams when he tried to make it through security with the pipe in his carry on, which set of metal detectors. Though there was no residue in the pipe, Williams was held and released after paying a nominal fine for possession of drug paraphernalia. The sheriff’s department told TMZ that Williams was cooperative.

Montel is vocal of his support for medical marijuana — which he uses to manage pain related to multiple sclerosis – a disease of the central nervous system that affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with each other.

The singing, acting, poetry-writing and activist Willie Nelson was arrested on pot charges after Nelson’s tour bus pulled into a checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, Texas on Friday morning. When the bus doors opened, border officials noticed the smell of marijuana.

Nelson, who claimed the pot was his, was held briefly and paid a $2,500 bond before being released. Two other members of his crew were also arrested. It is unlikely that the arrest will affect his tour.

“It’s kind of surprising, but I mean we treat him like anybody else,” Sheriff Arvin West told the El Paso Times. “He could get 180 days in county jail, which if he does, I’m going to make him cook and clean. He can wear the stripy uniforms just like the other ones do.”

Nelson, who once graced the cover of High Times magazine, is a staunch advocate of decriminalization of marijuana and a co-chair of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

The man known as the father of marijuana, Jack Herer, whose 1985 book The Emperor Wears No Clothes created serious controversy and sparked the marijuana legalization movement, passed away today at 70. Herer suffered a heart attack in September after speaking at a Portland rally.  He recouperated under the care of his wife Jeannie, who rented a house in Eugene where he could recover, however, sadly, Herer succombed to complications from the heart attack.

Herer had been fighting for the legalization of marijuana, campaigning across the country for the last 40 years.

In his book, The Emporer Wears No Clothes, Herer wrote that marijuana could save the world. Besides its medicininal purposes, one could make fiber, clothing, rope, fuel and high-protein food.

Jack is survived by his wife Jeannie and his six children.

With recent research coming out of the UK that shows that houses made of hemp can actually leave a less than zero carbon footprint, it’s truly a shame that industrialized hemp is still illegal in the US.

The hemp homes used in the study were built using Hemp-lime, a lightweight composite building material made of hemp fibers which are bound together by a lime-based glue.

Since the plant stores carbon during while it grows, the lime has a very low carbon footprint, and the material has excellent insulating properties, the product actually has a combined footprint that’s actually “better than zero carbon.”

British homes will start being built with the material as soon as possible as soon as final testing is completed by a consortium out of the University of Bath.

It is truly bizarre that the US still maintains law against using industrialized hemp. The US continues to fail to make a distinction between hemp and marijuana which is ridiculous since hemp is just the general term used for plants of the Cannabis genus. Marijuana is in that genus but that doesn’t mean that all hemp can get you intoxicated. There are numerous varieties of hemp that have no drug effects but have all the incredible properties that make it such a valuable industrial plant, yet federal drug enforcement laws prohibit the growing of all Cannabis plants.

For those interested in trying to help change US policy on the use of industrialized hemp you can do so at the Vote Hemp website.

Oh Arnie is a man of the Earth. He not only loves his eco-friendly vehicles, but he also loves his wacky tabbacy. Yes, bust out the twizzlers, kids – it’s 420!

According to the editor of High Times, Steven Hager, the term “420″ originated in 1971 at San Rafael High School,  among a group of Dazed and Confused-like pot-smoking students who called themselves the Waldos. They coined the  term to reference the time of day when they would meet up to smoke pot.

Naysayers to this theory claim that 420 originated from a police dispatch code that identified pot smokers. Yet another theory suggests that 420 originated from Hitler’s birthday. Rather than feeling creepy about the Nazi’s April 20 birthday, pot smokers decided to turn their frowns upside down by using the day for a celebration of peace, freedom and Funyuns.

Barack Obama has lost some friends today, Cheech and Chong specifically, announcing a firm stance that legalizing then taxing marijuana sales will not help fix the teetering U.S. economy.

At an online townhall meeting, President Obama revealed that the idea was a favorite among the 100,000 questions submitted on the White House website.

“I have to say that there was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high, and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation,” he said. “And I don’t know what this says about the online audience. This was a fairly popular question. We want to make sure that it was answered.”

Recently, a California congressman has been pusing a bill, AB 390, which would regulate marijuana like alcohol, with people over 21 years old allowed to grow, buy, sell and possess it. Congressman Ammiano argued that by legalizing and taxing the recreational use of marijuana, the move could pump more than a billion dollars a year into the state.

Obama admitted in his autobiography to experimenting with drugs in his heyday. However, when reporters asked White House press secretary Robert Gibbs as to whether the administration might one day decide to legalize marijuana, Gibbs was firm about the issue.

“The president opposes the legalization of marijuana,” Gibbs said. “He doesn’t think that’s the right plan for America.”

Could California become the next Amsterdam? That’s the potential plan San Francisco assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco is pushing. The bill (AB 390), which was proposed yesterday, would regulate marijuana like alcohol, with people over 21 years old allowed to grow, buy, sell and possess marijuana. Ammiano argues that by legalizing and taxing the recreational use of marijuana, the move could pump more than a billion dollars a year into the state. The state would collect $50 an ounce from sellers, and growers, too, would be taxed.

“We could in fact have the political will to do something, and certainly in the meantime this is a public policy call and I think it’s worth the discussion,” Ammiano said. “I think the outcome would be very healthy for California and California’s economy.”

However, California governed by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, will face tough opposition in Sacramento. The bill would ban use near schools and prohibit growing cannabis in public view.

“With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense,” Ammiano said. “This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes.”

Dude – California is like totally going to White Castle.