RESPONSIBILITY MEANS NOTHING TO THESE HOPHEADS

Bill Downing, oratory notwithstanding, would have made a lousy patriot
because, despite his bravado, he wants no part of being held accountable for
his actions.

"We believe it is our right as Americans to freely assemble," the
40-year-old president of MassCann, sponsor of today's pro-pot "Freedom
Rally" on Boston Common, harrumphs, as if anyone would quarrel with that
tenet.

Mr. President, it's not the assertion of your "rights" that makes you and
your colleagues personas non grata; it's the thumbing of your noses at
responsibilities inherent in those rights, like compliance with the law.

Downing, anticipating demonstrations of civil disobedience by rally-goers
who'll smoke dope in defiance of that law, had the gall to suggest police
will be at fault if arrests result in violence.

"They almost started a riot last year," he complained to the Herald's Mark
Mueller, recalling the incarceration of 150 violators, "and if they do that
again, making arrests in the middle of the crowd, they might start a riot
this year."

To paraphrase, "It'll be their fault for enforcing the law, not our fault
for breaking it."

Please. Here's hoping Tommy Menino floods the event with a battalion of
gendarmes, dispatched on a mission of zero tolerance.

Don't misunderstand, there's admiration here for people who possess the
courage of their convictions, people prepared to pay a price for opposition
to laws they consider unjust.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. never said, "I'll march if they promise not to
apprehend me."

Anti-abortion crusaders never say, "We'll defend unborn babies as long as
we're not personally inconvenienced."

If collared for commiting a crime, conscience-driven protesters are prepared
to do the time, a principle totally foreign to those glassy-eyed hopheads
Downing represents.

Menino vows arrests will be made if violations occur, a promise he'd do well
to keep, not just to reaffirm the sanctity of the law but to be consistent
with his self-proclaimed concern for the health of his constituents.

Marijuana has gotten too little attention because so much attention has been
focused on the perils of coke and heroin, but, make no mistake, this
supposedly innocuous weed is neither benign nor non-injurious.

"The myth it isn't dangerous really bothers me," says former Bruin Derek
Sanderson, once a poster boy for substance abuse, now 52, a director of the
State Street Research and Management Co.

Sanderson, in his 19th year of remaining clean and sober, is a riveting
speaker on the subject, especially when addressing audiences of young
people.

"There's a lot we don't know about it," he continued, "but we do know there
are 50 different chemicals in that stuff, the dominant one being THC
(tetrahydrocannabinol), the one that gets you high. We know it destroys
depth perception, destroys your ability to pick up moving objects, destroys
short-term memory for passing on knowledge to long-term memory. We know it
can kill chromosones, cause birth defects, lead to tremendous allergies
later in life.

"In other words, we know enough.

"I never used it much because it's a drug that leaves you out there. Like if
you're pulled over by a trooper when you're stoned, you can't come back to
reality, whereas when you're drinking, sometimes you can sober up for a few
minutes; fear will do that to you. Besides, it made me nauseous."

Sanderson was describing what was on the streets a generation ago.

"It's more destructive today because it's been so enhanced. You don't have
to smoke as much to stay stoned or get addicted. Unfortunately it's got this
yuppie base that wants you to believe it's OK in small amounts. That's bull.
The truth is, it's more powerful than ever, making it more dangerous than
ever."

That's something we won't hear on Boston Common today.

But it's something we ought to remember tomorrow if we read about the
"brutality" of cops who simply did their jobs.

Talk back to Joe Fitzgerald (links to this page:
http://www.bostonherald.com/guestbook/jfitzgerald/jfitzgerald.html)

Checked-by: Don Beck