A Journalist's Dream Job?

Considering what passes for journalism these days, you may as well get stoned on the job.

A Denver alternative newspaper recently posted an ad for what some consider the sweetest job in journalism — a reviewer of the state’s marijuana dispensaries and their products.

Medical marijuana users can also look to dozens of review Web sites, even mainstream rating sites such as Yelp or Citysearch, to find their high. At least five iPhone applications allow weed fans to find the closest place to legally buy bud in the 14 states that allow some sort of medical marijuana.

The Denver paper, Westword, has already has gotten more than 120 applicants, many of them offering to do the reviews for free. When the newspaper settles on a permanent critic for its new “Mile Highs and Lows” column, industry watchers say, it will be the first professional newspaper critic of medical marijuana in the country.

There’s one condition: The critic has to have a medical ailment that allows them to legally enter a dispensary, and buy and use marijuana.

“More and more people are having the opportunity to use marijuana for whatever illness they have. Se we want to be a place they can come to find out which place is the best, the cleanest, the closest, that kind of stuff,” said Joe Tone, Web editor at Westword.

I wonder what kind of expense and munchies budget this gig offers?