Now that the Arc of History is gone, how about replacing it with a marijuana garden? Grow lights could be installed to help brighten the dark U.S. Highway 550/160 intersection. National media interest would attract more tourism revenue. It sounds like a win-win-win – Rx (how appropriate to forget the “e”) Emenegger.

Action Line wondered how long it would be before someone would suggest a pot-related installation for the ignominious island of intolerance.

So let’s be straightforward with an intersection that is anything but.

Using pot as a medium in the median will pose some major logistical challenges. It will require motivation and laser-focused attention, the very things blunted by smoking a blunt.

But if someone wants to champion a marijuana garden in the middle of the region’s busiest intersection, knock yourself out.

We’ll take the “high” road in answering your query.

Just know that it can’t be what local mari-wannabes envision.

Before contacting our good friends at the city, CDOT, the Durango Public Art Commission, law enforcement, various garden clubs and the usual suspects, Action Line took a cursory glance at the laws.

The state of Colorado has a convenient overview of marijuana rules. For the curious, visit Colorado.gov (the state’s official portal), type “marijuana” in the search bar and read away.

There isn’t any guidance for municipalities and state agencies wanting to grow cannabis on public property. That’s because no government entity in its right mind would grow pot on public property.

Which means it’s entirely possible that Durango would embrace a marijuana garden, as this town suffers from frequent episodes of irrational behavior.

Is it any wonder that Durango’s sister city is the equally spastic People’s Republic of Boulder?

But that’s another matter altogether. The state, however, doesn’t blow smoke when it comes to growing marijuana.

“Marijuana plants must be kept in an enclosed, locked area that can’t be viewed openly. This means the plants can’t be outside,” explains the Colorado.gov website.

Therefore, ganja-neers would have to construct some sort of fortified bunker to shield and protect the marijuana garden from the 30,000 to 45,000 vehicles that crawl through the U.S. Highway 550/160 intersection each day.

That would pretty much defeat the purpose of a public marijuana garden.

As for using grow lights’ spillover to illuminate the intersection, it is likely to run afoul of Durango’s “Dark Skies” ordinance.

And there’s another thorny issue: Say marijuana was grown in the island in the highway, and acknowledge that the island is an integral element of the intersection.

Would this prohibit anyone under the age of 21 from using the intersection since there’s pot growing at its core?

Would there be an exemption for drivers 18 and older if they have a medical marijuana card?

Above all, how would tourists with kids get to Mesa Verde?

Durango could adopt the famous New England phrase regarding travel directions: “You can’t get there from here.”

So let’s drop the super silly and supercilious sensimilia senselessness. Or, to put it another way, a garden of cannabis is a can’t, a bust.

If we really wanted to create a buzz, let’s auction that island in the middle of the highway. The highest bidder would then be free to erect a toll booth for inbound and outbound traffic. Think of how much money could be made by selling public land. Given the rhetoric of this election cycle, it might just get the green light.

Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can ask for anonymity if you come to Action Line’s free and snarky presentation on bulbs at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Durango Public Library. It’s part of the Durango Botanical Society’s annual bulb sale that begins at 9 a.m.