Here's more on the marijuana billboard ads we like-- from The Coalition For Medical Marijuana. The ads have an especially appealing tag line, "Medical Marijuana: Compassion Not Federal Prison."

The Federal Bureau of Prisons reported a population of nearly 165,000 this month, making the system larger than perennial prison giants California and Texas....

At least part of the increase, officials say, is because of a growing pool of non-citizen offenders who represent nearly one-third of the federal inmate population..... The majority have been convicted of drug-related crimes, and their numbers jumped from 22% in 1998 to 28% in 2002....

The Bureau of Prisons is one of the fastest-growing arms of the federal government. In 1980, the bureau's budget was $330 million, and there were 24,000 inmates in 44 prisons. In 2002, the budget was $4.6 billion, and there were 102 prisons. Eleven more federal prisons are in various stages of construction.

War on Drugs, War on Iraq, Prison Nation....does the Government think money grows on trees?