As many of you already know, Alaska voters could make the state the first in the nation to essentially legalize marijuana. Fox News reports on it today:

Backers of a controversial ballot initiative want pot to be treated just like alcohol. If voters pass the measure, it would be legal to grow, smoke and sell any amount of marijuana so long as one is 21 years of age. The state would regulate the cannabis industry just like it licenses booze and cigarettes.

But Fox closes with this factoid:

Alaskans can currently possess small amounts of pot for use in their homes and medical marijuana (search) is allowed. But the state has the highest drug addiction in the country and is among the nation's leaders in unemployment, child abuse and domestic violence. [Emphasis added.]

It's also, I'm guessing, the nation's leader in Alaskans, mooses, bears, salmon, and untapped oil reserves, but I'm not sure those figures are any more relevant to the story than mentions of unemployement, child abuse, or domestic violence.

Also, what exactly is the meaning of "the highest drug addiction in the country"? Is that the rate of drug addiction? Or is Fox suggesting that one of our least populated states has more "addicts" than any other state? I have no idea what they are trying to say, but it doesn't seem very fair or balanced.

Read the whole story (and watch the accompanying video) here. The video, which is only slightly less antagonistic than the article to the idea of legalization, has an excellent quote by the state attorney general in which he claims that "you don't socially use marijuana..."

(Thanks to reader Travis for the tip.)