A new industry is popping up in Colorado: Marijuana tours. And according to the tour operators, visitors are signing up big time. “CBS This Morning” went along on a sample tour, where the group saw how pot is grown at one place, get to check out paraphernalia at another shop and can buy the green stuff as well. And it all ends at a sub shop; sounds like a well-planned tour! Visitors to the state have already made their reservations (and the guy checking ID’s says a good many of them are from conservative Texas; ha!) Other states (I’m talking ’bout you, Illinois) should pay attention; here’s a new growth industry that can provide jobs, bring in tax dollars and attract tourists. Get off the moral high horse and see the financial benefits here.
Also on the TV talk shows:
- ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas did a very honest interview with her co-worker George Stephanopolos about her battle with alcoholism that aired on “Good Morning America.” Vargas announced last fall that she’d be taking a break from the news so she could enter rehab. The 51-year-old Vargas said she has suffered from panic attacks since she was a child; mentioning one panic attack she had while on air anchoring the news in Chicago. And she felt pressure to be perfect. Describing herself as a “functioning alcoholic,” Vargas said wine was her go-to drink and she’d have a couple glasses of it after the kids went to bed. That morphed into three, sometimes four. (Are you listening, moms out there, how easily your nightly relaxer can turn into a problem?) Her husband told her she had a problem, which she denied. It wasn’t until she came to a shoot for ABC’s “20/20,” in no shape to be at work that she started thinking he might be right. In rehab she learned ways to deal with the panic, “feel the feelings,” discovering they’re “not going to kill you.” Now when she’s stressed she calls a friend, meditates, prays, reaches out to “someone who can talk you through that rotten day.” Vargas returns to “20/20” tonight.
- On a lighter note, comedian and author John Heffron stopped by “You & Me This Morning” and talked about his days living in Chicago. His apartment at Armitage and Sheffield was so close to the L tracks that when trains would be stopped, people would knock on his window and ask for a Coke, or Pepsi or a cigarette. He jokingly said he thought he and his roommates should have started a little business from that window. Heffron, the author of a new book “I Come From the Future,” is performing this weekend at Chicago Improv in Schaumburg.
— Sue Ontiveros
