Make no mistake. When it comes to the growing number of countries instituting various smoking bans, Canada leads the international way - no ifs, ands or butts, writes David Cohen.
Except, that is, if you happen to be Douglas Hutchinson, a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, who this week received an official blessing to puff away on campus to his heart's content - or discontent, as the medical case may be.
Anti-tobacco types can relax a little, however. Professor Hutchinson, a 10-a-day man, is only doing it for health reasons. Clean, green marijuana joints, rather than the dreaded nicotine sticks, are his drug of choice.
According to news stories, Prof Hutchinson has been regularly toking up for more than a decade now. Until last week, however, his self-administered "therapeutic treatment" for an unspecified medical condition had been a private arrangement.
In a statement, the philosophy prof said he was discovered in his "dope closet" by campus authorities, who promptly offered him a ventilated smoking room in the basement of Trinity College. This has pleased Prof Hutchinson, who reports that the process of getting permission to puff had been long and ugly, but ultimately fruitful.
The provosts of both the college and the university have even written letters commending the situation. (Naturally, of course, the university retains its unflinching opposition to students and staff indulging in that other weed-puffing habit.)
As for the former Oxbridge man's students, well, they're being asked to judge matters for themselves.
With 10 seats remaining spare in the course he teaches on the philosopher Seneca, Hutchinson's statement invites others "to see for themselves whether the pothead professor is teaching well". Among the initial feedback, one undergraduate declares:
The fact that he can teach a class on Seneca while high is incredible.
Too right, agrees another student blogosphere, who asks:
When do I get my own personal smoking room? I wonder if he decorates [his] at all? If so, he better have a Dr Dre poster and and a few of those magic eye posters.
Alanna, posting on the blog BoingBoing, writes:
I now understand why he was so hard to follow in lectures; he smokes pot with a medical clearance from the government. I'm not sure how it can be that he's just allowed to lecture whilst high. One of the questions on our term test involved correlating Plato with an excerpt of lyrics from one of the prof's favourite reggae songs.
Alanna mentions Prof Hutchinson in reaction to the story about another professor from the University of Florida who, according to bloggers:
showed up to his class stoned off his brains
Both BoingBoing and Break.com have posted a four-minute video excerpt from this professor's lecture.
So what do you make of the Canada's pot permissiveness? Could other universities around the world usefully take a leaf from Toronto's book - if not Douglas Hutchinson's pouch - and lighten up in certain circumstances?
And would the classroom experience of reading Aristotle be more generally improved for having had a puff or two of wacky baccy before diving into the Ancients?
Or does it all sound a little potty?
