PEJORATIVE TERM

In the middle of an otherwise good article on hemp cultivation (July 11) I
was shocked to encounter the following phrase: "the hemp bandwagon -- which
has been populated for years by the dreadlocked, environmentally conscious,
and pro-marijuana crowds." The use of the term "crowds" in this context is
obviously derogatory and the lumping together of these "crowds" is
egregious. As an environmentally conscious person (and who shouldn't be?), I
do not think of myself as being part of a crowd, although I sometimes wish I
were. My daughter-in-law is often dreadlocked, because she is part of the
fashion-conscious people-of-color crowd, but she has never expressed to me
any opinion about hemp.

I don't have much to do with the "pro-marijuana crowd," but in general they
don't seem to me to be any worse than the reporters-in-jail crowd or the
journalists-with-their-heads-in-the-sand crowd.

Lane Tracy

Cary