Pubdate: Sat, 24 Aug 2002
Source: Maui News, The (HI)
Contact:  2002 The Maui News
Website: http://www.mauinews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2259
Author: Stephen Lawrence
Note: For more on medical cannabis and cannabis eradication in Hawaii
go to http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Hawaii

MARIJUANA ARRESTS LESS DANGEROUS TO POLICE OFFICERS

Any cop and all the other drug-war soldiers will tell you they are tough and
can handle any violent criminal. They look danger in the face, laugh, and
say "Come on, give me your best shot."

If you have ever seen a cop with the testosterone flowing at an arrest or
seen one inside a jail where the cop is a god, you know looking at them in
the eye is worthy of a beating. So why are authorities so consumed with
keeping marijuana illegal?

My reasoning goes like this: If I put my life in danger every time I had to
answer a call, pumped up with adrenaline because I might face gunfire, I
would relish the nonviolent marijuana smoker to bust since they offer no
resistance and pose no danger, no threat and I would be safe during four or
five hours of paperwork, safe for another shift with overtime, plus the
department benefits from the seized drug money and forfeiture loot. I would
fight to keep from having to answer only the real police-work calls
involving murder, rape and robbery that might get me killed.

Stephen Lawrence

Garden Grove, Calif.
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MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk