DRIVEN TO CRIME BY MARIJUANA

To the Editor of THE EAGLE:-

Buried deep within the story of the home invasion of a residence on Onota
Lake is the underlying cause for the alleged crime. Several marijuana
joints were smoked prior to the invasion. We all know how marijuana use
leads one into more serious offenses. In this case, it just took a matter
of minutes for the effect of the drug to kick in.

Soon afterward, one of the alleged drug users was running directly into the
path of a survival knife wielded by a teenage boy who lived in the house.
Certainly not a fair fight, especially when your opponent has only a
screwdriver to defend himself.

The article also mentioned that the alleged criminals were under probation
for "unrelated reasons." Knowing how aggressively our district attorney is
prosecuting marijuana possession/sale, we can rest assured that these
alleged criminals must have been on probation for some minor offense;
attempted murder, breaking and entering, attempted rape come to mind. If
only they had been caught lighting up a joint before all this happened -
then we know they would be locked up for life.

I hope Mr. Capeless has the time to prosecute these marijuana users, given
his busy docket down in Great Barrington.

Michael Roth

Richmond, Sept. 2, 2005