Stephen Colbert and Bob Hagedorn: The Reunion Tour

State Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, has done much useful work during this legislative session. For instance, he’s sponsored bills on generic prescription drugs and on limiting access to tanning beds for minors.

And what gets him on cable TV? Sponsoring a bill with the word “high” in it.Stephen Colbert’s Colbert Report on Comedy Central took note of Colorado’s new state song, Rocky Mountain High, showing a picture of Hagedorn along with his quote explaining that John Denver’s immortal line “Friends around the campfire, and everybody’s high” does not necessarily refer to drug use.

Picture of Hagedorn, with quote:

Yes, drugs cause (a high) but so do lots of other things … We could be talking about guys who’ve been fishing all day, or kids pigging out on s’mores, with the chocolate.

Colbert:

Kids love the chocolate, and not only because they have the munchies.

Flattered though we are that everyone from the state legislators to Steven Colbert is stealing our jokes, this is the last we’ll have to say about this, we hope. We’re sure that in this enlightened age, with the giant moral, ethical and legal strides that America has made, no one uses drugs to get high anymore. Altered states of consciousness derive solely from the adrenaline rush of the long hike, followed by a night around the campfire and the morning’s spectacular mountain views.

But let’s be honest. Denver wrote his song in 1972. We were there. In those days, we got high on drugs.

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