POT GETS A BAD RAP

Kudos to Len Lesser for his column (March 23 issue) on pot. How did such a
wonderful plant get such a bad rap? In the 1920s hemp was grown to make
twine and rope and the seeds were used for human consumption and for bird
and animal feed.

DuPont had just invented plastic fibre. They wanted hemp out so that
everybody would want their new invention, rope and twine out of plastic.
The propaganda regarding this plant reached fever pitch in the 30s and 40s
and the U.S. government got in on the ugly brainwashing -- things like you
would lose your mind if you smoked this plant.

Well, I guess there are still some folks out there who go for all the
mindless gibberish.

But what about a potent mind-numbing drug like alcohol, that has destroyed
millions upon millions of lives and continues to do so, or tobacco which is
probably not so bad were it not for the 2,000 chemical additives that are
added and not to forget those three wonder drugs of the masses -- white
refined sugar in all it's guises, white refined flour in all it's empty
promises and our favourite little picker-upper, coffee? All drugs. All
legal. All doing their dirty work in our bodies and in our minds.

Nobody ever mentions the litter created by thousands of throwaway coffee
containers and the ugliness of thousands of butts lying everywhere.
Instead, let's all come down real heavy on marijuana.

As long as a substance is illegal there is always the criminal element. The
government should sell and regulate it like it does with alcohol. Let's not
stand in judgment and malign a substance. If you do not wish to partake
then that is your choice. To call people criminals for using marijuana is
unbelievable.

Go do something constructive: Pick up some broken beer bottles and some
cigarette butts.

Sage Woman, London