JOINT EFFORT

Matt Labash, a staff writer for the conservative magazine The Weekly
Standard, has made it a trademark of his journalism to infiltrate left-wing
gatherings and ridicule them. So when Labash received an invitation to an
election-night party for medical marijuana supporters, he couldn't resist.
He called the Marijuana Policy Project, the D.C.–based lobbying group that
was hosting the party, and talked to MPP director of communications Chuck
Thomas.

"Will we see people smoking pot there?" asked Labash.

"No one will be smoking pot," Thomas recalls telling him, "but we can
introduce you to patients who use it for medical purposes, if you need a
photo."

The night of November 3, some 200 people attended the MPP party at Food for
Thought, a bar-restaurant near Dupont Circle. The mood was festive, as exit
polls were indicating strong voter support for medical marijuana referenda
in Washington, D.C., and several states. Around 11:30, as party goers were
drinking, dancing, and watching election returns on TV, Labash arrived with
David Bass, the deputy publisher of The Weekly Standard, and ordered a
couple of beers.

MPP volunteer Whitney Painter approached the two men, who stood out with
their slicked hair and suits. After a few minutes, she says, she realized
"they were on a mission. All they wanted to know was, could I buy pot for
them, did someone there have some, how much did I smoke. I said, ‘You're
not going to find any marijuana here. That's not what this is about. It's
about sick people going to prison."'

Painter steered Bass and Labash to Chuck Thomas, whose account of the
interview follows. One of the two said, "You said there would be people
with pot here. How can we go about getting some?"

Thomas explained that the law had not yet gone into effect, but that when
it did, marijuana would be available to people who were seriously ill and
had a doctor's recommendation.

One of the reporters said, "But we listen to Cypress Hill! We watch Cheech
and Chong! How can we get some pot?"

Thomas answered, "If you have concerns about medical marijuana, tell me
what they are, and I'll try to address them."

Then Labash said, "Dave likes to smoke pot," upon which Bass gave Labash a
stern look. Labash said, "But Dave, you've smoked in front of me." Labash
was probably joking, but Thomas did not like being mocked. "I've done
hundreds of interviews," he says, "and this was the weirdest ever. They
were asking tabloid-quality questions, really just fishing and not catching
anything."

After midnight, the two journalists continued to buttonhole party goers.
After about 10 people complained to MPP executive director Robert Kampia
that they were being asked for pot, he decided to put an end to it. His
account follows. Kampia walked up to Bass and Labash mid interview, saying,
"Have you asked anyone here for marijuana, in any way, shape, or form?"

"No," said one.

"Sort of," said the other.

"That's it!" Kampia said. "You're out of here!"

"We're the media," said one. "You can't tell us to leave!"

According to one observer, David Bass puffed up his chest and joked that he
was a marine. Then a rumble broke out, as Kampia grabbed Bass by the lapels
and pushed him. "His beer went flying, his friend lunged at me, and all
kinds of Marijuana Policy Project people dived in the middle," recalls
Kampia. When the dust cleared, the two reporters were gone.

Thomas and Kampia are still fuming about the incident, which they recounted
to the Washington Post, to no avail. "It didn't occur to them that any of
us could be sincere," says Kampia. "They were sure this was a facade so we
could deal drugs in the back room, rather than a legitimate political issue."

Labash calls the story ludicrous. "I may have jokingly inquired about the
propensity of medical marijuana activists to use marijuana at their medical
marijuana party, but in absolutely no way did I attempt to procure
marijuana, medical or otherwise," he says. The November 16 Weekly Standard
ran a series of election-night vignettes, but not a word about the party at
Food for Thought.

Checked-by: Richard Lake