THOUGHTS FROM A WORKING CLASS 60'S POTHEAD

Dear Mr. O'Neill:

In "The Truth About Ganja And Me," you wrote: "My parents are straight out
of the sixties (the working-class sixties), and my father likes to tell how
he was cleaning carpet during the riots in Detroit. He had no time for
such diversions as music, travel or drugs; he was too busy working. Both
my parents have experimented with cannabis and both have great concerns
with my herbal excursions."

Even working class people (like me) smoked pot in the 60's and 70's. I
wasn't aware that it took any extra time for the "diversion" of getting
high. Quite to the contrary, it facilitated making better use of the
limited time available. It also made drudgerous work (for instance, I
worked in a furniture factory) better. Your parents' "experiments" seem to
have been bungled rather badly.

You also wrote: "My father who loves to stock my liquor cabinet with
multiple bottles of whisky, vodka, and wine every time he visits,
regardless of the fact that it would take me a decade to drink so much
liquor, is afraid I'm losing my mind and wasting my time 'smoking grass.'"

I certainly understand your point about the internal inconsistency of your
father's apparent viewpoint. All the same, I'll be happy to take any
surplus liquor off you hands. While you're quite right that alcohol is a
much more potentially harmful intoxicant than cannabis, I have no trouble
enjoying both. And, while booze isn't expensive as it could be made if
alcohol prohibition were once again ratcheted up from the partial variety
to full-scale, pot-style prohibition, it sure costs too much.

Thanks for your article, and thanks to the Summit Free Press for printing it.

Patrick L. Lilly, Occupied Cheyenne Canyon near Colo. Spgs., Co. 80906