Pubdate: Wed, 10 May 2000 Source: Mountain Xpress (NC) Copyright: 2000 Mountain Xpress Contact: PO Box 144, Asheville, NC 28802 Fax: (828) 251 1311 Website: http://www.mountainx.com/ Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n560/a13.html Note: 6 PUB LTEs follow the Mountain Xpress Editor's introduction. ON MARIJUANA, BIGOTRY, DEMOCRACY AND ... SATIRE Editor's note: Stop! It was satire a sarcastic diatribe against the war on drugs. Seldom does a letter provoke such inflamed and misunderstood responses as did "Hurrah for the pot police." And because the letter, published in our April 26 issue, was run on our Web site, it elicited reactions not only from local readers, but from Internet users in other states and Canada. POLICE THE POT THE POLICE I am sure that you got blasted with letters in response to "Hurrah for the Pot Police" [Letters, April 26]. I don't usually write a lot of letters to editors and such, but I couldn't resist this one. Name Withheld must already have a drug-fried brain. I do not condone marijuana use for getting high, but I was appalled when I heard about that drug raid on that farmer and his family ["Casualties of war," April 12]. I see it as a prime example of the law abusing their authority. I don't like seeing my tax dollars going for such inhumane treatment of the people they are getting paid to protect. Of course the Bible doesn't mention pot. It also doesn't mention incest, abortion and a lot of the other issues of today. It was written almost 2,000 years ago, by men. I was born and raised in a Christian home. But the Christian saturation in this area has actually turned me away from the church. It is so full of bigotry and hatred. That was not what I was taught as a child. Name Withheld needs to look at the ingredients in "culturally ordained" drugs. He might be surprised at what he's putting in his body. Wake up, person, you are living in a fantasy world. All organic farmers should be treated with great respect. Thank Spirit for the freedom of speech. Teresa Ballinger, Black Mountain DINGBATS FOR THE POT POLICE I find it extremely poor journalism to print such a letter from an anonymous source ["Hurrah for the pot police," April 26]. Obviously that letter was authored by either a "dope-cop" or a "religious fanatic" (or, likely, both). If it had been a "meaningful" letter, it might have made sense. But why print a letter like that? Just trying to stir up debate? Actually, whoever wrote that letter did a huge favor to all the organizations fighting to make cannabis legal and make "dope-cops" obsolete. We put his letter and others like it on our walls, and distribute it to others, because it helps us to mobilize the masses against his kind! We take our American rights seriously we will overgrow! David Malcolm, Currie Portland, Ore. STOP THE SLANDER OF PEACEFUL POT USERS The raving rant against innocent, peaceful pot users who quietly huddle in their houses trying to avoid attention was a blatant example of hatred that is based on bias. No wonder this person refused to sign their name [Letters, "Hurrah for the pot police," April 26]. As long as there are prejudices against minorities for no reason, this evil slanderer will continue to spew out similar maniacal nonsense. Zero tolerance in your country has evolved into hatred for one's fellow humans just because they choose to use an herb that has itself been slandered, prosecuted and burned for no good reason. The ugliness is escalating. Please, just stop it right now. Kathy Galbraith, Raymond, Alberta TOO MANY REAL ISSUES TO BICKER OVER MARIJUANA USE I read the Mountain Xpress every Wednesday, and I always read the commentaries. Sometimes, they make me cheer; other times, they make me boil with anger. But when I read "Hurray for the pot police" [Letters, April 26], I became frightened and nauseous to find that there are people so uneducated, who can somehow genuinely feel that belligerent. I also might add, they were so proud of their stand they wouldn't have their name printed. It's very frustrating to hear, every week, so many people so upset about decisions people make that only affect that particular individual. When someone commits, for example, a violent act, there's definitely a need for some attention because the same situation could very easily happen to you or me, without a decision involved on our part. There are so many of those particular situations that I can't believe we waste so much time and energy on what people do that doesn't affect anyone but the individual. Please, allow me to illustrate. Right now, you're reading this paper; at this exact same moment, someone, somewhere, is smoking a marijuana cigarette. Do you feel a buzz coming on? Is there smoke coming out of your mouth, filling the room you're in? Probably not. I could give other examples, but I think you get the point. So, please, I beg you, for my sake, for my children's sake, and for your sake can't we stop this trivial bickering and focus on things that affect us all? We've virtually exhausted our natural forests and fossil fuels, when we have other options. We've got the most overcrowded jail systems in the world, and we're putting people in jail for victimless crimes. Jail, I thought, was to keep menaces to society off the street. A person with the disease known as addiction needs help therapeutically not by threatening, negative reinforcement. By the way, for the unnamed author of "Hurray for the pot police," alcohol and tobacco use each kill more people every year than all illegal drugs combined. I've never found a case of anyone, anywhere, who has died of a THC overdose. And I don't recall the Bible, in any interpretation, endorsing tobacco specifically. You should try reading educational material sometimes; it actually can teach you things. Chad Hildebran, Asheville GIVE ME THE GANJA-SMOKING HIPPIE Please tell me that the letter titled "Hurrah for the pot police" was someone's very sick idea of a joke. In self-defense-induced denial, I really don't want to acknowledge the fact that there are people running loose out there with such perverted notions about good and evil. I do find it strange that someone so proud of their Christian values elected to have their name withheld. But not wanting to get into a "my god is better than your god" type of discussion, I won't take that any further. I am even more offended at the hate and racism evident in this person's nasty little poison-pen spewings. Given a choice between the two, I'll take a thong-wearing, bicycle-riding, ganja-smoking hippie any day of the week. At least I wouldn't have to worry that the hippie was going to beat me to death with racist, pseudo-religious dogma. Melanie McMahan, Asheville POLITICS, BIG-BUSINESS INTERESTS FUEL THE DRUG WAR [Regarding the "Hurray for the pot police" letter, which ran in the March 26 issue of Xpress,] it is important to note that most drug-war-mongering politicians and civilians fall into two categories: 1. Those who actually believe the propaganda, lies and ignorant myths peddled by the prohibitionists who refuse to consider any reform-oriented alternatives to the current massive failure and fraud of the drug war; and 2. Those prohibitionists, referred to above, who rely on the continued prosecution of but never a victory in the drug war, in order to sustain the industries, jobs and constituents' votes that keep them in business and in power. The hottest fires in hell will be reserved for these people, who employ fear, lies and oppression in an attempt to continue but, again, never to win the war on drugs. Cannabis has no lethal dose, and its pharmacological effects have never caused a single death, in over 5,000 years of recorded history. The (unseen) driving force against medical (or unrestricted adult) legalization of cannabis is the fact that cannabis can't be patented. This precludes the need for big business to be involved, and that fact makes cannabis commercially unattractive, pharmaceutically speaking. It seems that if it can't be profitized successfully, the government can't justify legalization even for the sick and dying. Unfortunately, a change in current policy (prohibition) would necessitate that the alternative (legalization) reap more profits (seen and unseen) than our present policy does. Maybe the politicians are required to adhere to the party line of prohibition because law enforcement, customs, the prison/industrial complex, the drug-testing industry, the INS, the CIA, the FBI, the DEA, the politicians themselves, et al., can't live without the budget justification not to mention the invisible profits, bribery, corruption and forfeiture benefits that prohibition affords them. The drug war also promotes, justifies and perpetuates racist enforcement policies, and is diminishing many freedoms and liberties that are supposed to be inalienable, according to the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Myron Von Hollingsworth, Fort Worth, Texas - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D