HERE'S A CHAMPIONSHIP THE BAY STATE CAN DO WITHOUT

To the Editor:
We're champions again in Massachusetts!

First it was football, then it was baseball and now the people of the
commonwealth are champions of another sport, if you will. We are No. 1 in
the use of marijuana!

Congratulations! We beat every state in the nation! A whopping 12 percent
of Massachusetts residents have taken part in smoking the funny butts in
the past month.

We have put every steroid scandal in sports history to shame. We might as
well make the pot plant our state plant. We could put it on vanity plates
on cars. I'm surprised that Twinkies haven't become our official state food
by now. In all seriousness, I didn't realize that I had a 12 percent chance
of driving next to an operator of a motor vehicle who was under the
influence of the cannabis plant. Then again, that would explain some of
their driving techniques.

Pretty soon pot smokers are going to outnumber cigarette smokers. I don't
get it though: Massachusetts residents are hellbent on eliminating
cigarette smoking from society, but some wish to legalize the use of dope
smoking? They want to pay a cheap monetary fine to illegally use a
mind-altering substance instead of being arrested.

Actually, the irony is that while one would probably be arrested for
smoking indoors, the pot smoker would just have to pay a fine. Why would
someone want me to publicly accept and deal with their drug addiction? Why
do marijuana users want a free pass to toke up around me? They want me to
tolerate their behavior, but I want to turn the tables on them. I want
them to have the strength and courage to live a drug-free life. I want them
to live a clean and productive life.

I bet that they don't want me to judge them when they are parenting under
the influence of marijuana. In the end, what has pot smoking done for them
other than drain their bank accounts and their ambitions as well. Imagine
if all the money spent on drug use was spent on something worthwhile for a
change? I just don't want to see Cheech and Chong being spokespeople
for the Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce.

Dean Burgess

Manchester-by-the-Sea