September 16  Dale Geiringer forwards an item from the ABC News website headlined “They don’t call them the Great Smoky Mountains for nothing.”  As we’ve noted before, journalists are so addicted to marijuana-infused puns that they’ll go to great lengths to obtain and use them. The puns show that they’re hip —they know marijuana is harmless. They don’t joke about meth and smack.  In this instance Great Smoky Mountain National Park, which straddles Tennessee and North Carolina, ranked fourth in pot busts but found its way into the hed. California was in  first place (Yosemite), of course, and second, too (the Golden Gate National Recreation Area).  

A pot bust at a California campground,  the Lake Piru Recreation Area in Ventura County, led to a significant legal victory for Dr. David Bearman —and everybody’s right to privacy!— in 2004. Here’s the relevant background. 

And here’s today’s National Parks story and the list of pot busts in recent years (which was compiled by an Associated Press reporter):

An Associated Press analysis of federal court data shows that of the more than 27,700 citations issued to people caught with marijuana on federal property since 2009, at least 724 of the tickets were issued at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina. Among national parks, that figure trails only Yosemite’s 939.

The number of citations issued is small compared to the hundreds of millions of visitors to national parks, forests and monuments each year.

But it nevertheless illustrates one of the many issues Washington, Colorado and other states that want to regulate marijuana face in complying with last month’s Justice Department memo that calls on them to keep pot from being used, possessed or grown on federal land.

Here’s a look at the top national parks, recreation areas and monuments for marijuana busts from Jan. 1, 2009, to July 31, 2013, according to data provided by the U.S. Courts Central Violations Bureau.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA: 939

GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, CA: 902

JEFFERSON NATIONAL EXPANSION MEMORIAL, MO: 847

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, TN/NC: 724

OZARK NATIONAL SCENIC RIVERWAYS, MO: 474

GATEWAY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, NY/NJ: 313

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, AZ: 257

BUFFALO NATIONAL RIVER, AR: 252

LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, NV/AZ: 234

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WY: 230

CAPE COD NATIONAL SEASHORE, MA: 206

WHISKEYTOWN NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, CA: 203

SEQUOIA AND KING CANYON NATIONAL PARK, CA: 173

MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK, KY: 155

INDEPENDENCE NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK, PA: 148

CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, GA: 147

HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK, AR: 138

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, CA: 137

PADRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE, TX: 120

SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, VA: 116