POT AND PROPAGANDA

The front page article, Legal Haze, published Dec. 6 was so full of
inaccuracies I was moved to write you a letter. These inaccuracies
include a desperate picture of law enforcement being swamped by all
the out of compliance patients and their growers.

The photos supplied by Oregon State Police and the Lane County
Interagency Drug Enforcement Team are sensational and meant to raise
fear among the populace. So is their figure of 20 percent
noncompliance. OSP's actual numbers are about 1 percent in violation
of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act.

Law enforcement has an easy way to gain knowledge about grows and how
big they legally can be by calling state health officials and asking
the questions they are allowed by law, for example: Is this place or
person registered?

This is the same propaganda that law enforcement organizations have
used to try to scare the Legislature into drastic cuts to the only
Department of Human Services program that pays for itself and adds
money to the state's general fund.

Please understand that real patients and compassionate growers are
supplying their friends and loved ones with the only medicine that
works to relieve their suffering without killing or debilitating them.

K. Greg Byers

Eugene