Pubdate: Fri, 04 Oct 2002 Source: Savannah Morning News (GA) Copyright: 2002 Savannah Morning News Contact: http://www.savannahnow.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/401 Author: William Huggins STOP POLICE CRACKDOWN ON MARIJUANA SMOKERS Stop the lies of pot being evil. Our government officials have lied for years about marijuana, while some use it themselves. They still lie to get the votes they need to stay in office. Something is definitely wrong when crack cocaine, ecstasy, crystal meth and other drugs can very easily be found, but all of a sudden the Drug Enforcement Administration puts up billboards saying, "Think it is dry now? Wait till next month," and then you can't find smoke anywhere. It is said that marijuana leads to harder drugs. If anything, the lack of it leads to harder drugs. I've smoked for 20 years and never thought about doing any truly hard drugs. Some people come home to a beer, some to a joint. The DEA and America need to get their stuff straight and go after the perpetrators of violence and crime and not pot users. I believe law enforcement is afraid of people running and using these harder drugs, not to mention how high in our government the involvement goes. Law enforcement goes for the easy mark -- hardworking people trying to relax a little. Legalizing marijuana would also give tobacco other farmers a major boon in business. And the taxes paid on it would give the government plenty of money to go after the real drug problems. Like it or not, pot will be back. Why not just let everyone benefit from it? WILLIAM HUGGINS Savannah - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom