Pubdate: Thurs, 1 Jul 1999
Source: Fairfield County Weekly (CT)
Copyright: 1999 New Mass. Media, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.fairfieldweekly.com/
Author: Mike Gogulski

NO SHAME IN SMOKING POT

Some have said Khalid El-Amin should be ashamed, but I don't think so.
There's no shame in smoking marijuana, only in being arrested for it.

Considering that 76,000 Connecticut adults admit to smoking it every month,
El-Amin isn't alone. How many of those 76,000 must be jailed in order to
"win" the war on pot? How many real crooks will go free to make room in the
prisons?

That a champion basketball player smokes challenges the assumptions of the
war on marijuana: that smokers suffer from "amotivational syndrome"; that
they suffer from reduced motor function and poor coordination; and the
implicit claim that they are worthless wretches who need a stiff jail
sentence to "straighten them out."

We should be ashamed for putting Khalid, his wife, his children, his team,
and his fans through all this. In the end, what did it accomplish?

Mike Gogulski President, Connecticut Cannabis Policy Forum www.ccpf.org
Hamden, Conn.

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