You can almost see the IQ points evaporating. The stoners pushing a referendum to legalize the use of marijuana by adults in Maine's most populous city seem to be growing dopier by the toke - in both senses of dopier. Their campaign to turn Portland into Potland relies heavily on an ill-considered premise that's guaranteed to turn off potential supporters. Let me be clear - or at least as clear as the smokeladen air surrounding this issue allows. I think laws banning the possession and use of marijuana by those 21 or older are stupider and more outdated than Cheech and Chong routines. [continues 723 words]
There are doctors in Maine who believe legalizing marijuana for medical purposes is good medicine. But try to find one with the courage to say that publicly. Asking pro-pot physicians to openly endorse the referendum question on the Nov. 2 ballot seems to cause cases of the shakes reminiscent of the camera work in "The Blair Witch Project." It's enough to give the average doctor motion sickness. (Fortunately, marijuana helps control nausea.) It's also enough to make people suffering from the side effects of chemotherapy for cancer and wasting syndrome from AIDS even sicker than they already are. Doctors -- the one group that should be advocating most strongly for the needs of those patients -- are almost entirely silent. [continues 680 words]
It was 1990. A house on Sherman Street in Portland's Parkside neighborhood. A drug deal was about to go down. "Betty" (the real names of those involved have been changed at their request) waited in the car while her husband, "Rick," went inside. "Were the cops watching the house?" Betty remembered thinking. "Would we get busted? We were buying it through the friend of a friend, but we were worried about how safe it was. Was it laced with something? [continues 4398 words]
