Source: Standard-Times (MA)
Contact:  http://www.s-t.com/
Pubdate: Thursday, 03 September, 1998
Author: Redford Givens, San Francisco

REEFER MADNESS NOW PLAYING IN WESTPORT

Re: "143 marijuana plants found in three Westport cornfields."

The lunatic efforts to suppress marijuana remind one of the witch hunts of
old. "Reefer Madness" is truly alive and well in Westport when we see
troopers coming out of the sky to uproot a handful of plants.

Harry Anslinger claimed that marijuana caused insanity and madness, but the
only aberrations we see are when the Westport police, the Bristol County
Sheriff's Department, the South Bristol Multijurisdictional Task Force and
the Army National Guard waste weeks of time and millions in tax dollars to
dig up 143 marijuana plants. Boasting about a useless boondoggle reveals
the utter hypocrisy of these "drug warriors."

It is utterly absurd to continue marijuana prohibition in light of the fact
that every Reefer Madness claim has been disproved a dozen times. A recent
study in France concluded that marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol
or tobacco -- either one. So there's no good reason to carry on the ban.

It's time the Reefer Maniacs in Bristol County went back to doing honest
police work instead of pretending to do a public service by enforcing a
Reefer Madness policy based on lies, dissembling and propaganda.

REDFORD GIVENS

San Francisco

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Checked-by: Mike Gogulski