DETROIT DOESN'T NEED ANY MORE DRUG HASSLES

MEDICINAL POT - Just what Detroit needed, right? Legalized dope. Not that
there's a shortage of it in the city or elsewhere in the metropolitan area,
for that matter. Just take a deep breath the next time you're at a concert
at the Palace of Auburn Hills or lolling on the grass at DTE Energy Theater
(nee Pine Knob) or Freedom Hill.

You don't need to bring your own. It's easy to get high and be somebody on
the cheap.

In case you missed it in the blizzard of attack ads and other political
trash surrounding the statewide primary election, Detroit voters last
Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a city ordinance that will exempt patients
who use marijuana under medical supervision from that part of the city code
that calls for a $500 fine and 90 days in jail for possession of the drug.

Predictably, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox
both turned thumbs down on the proposal, cautioning the obvious: Detroit,
in particular, doesn't need any more drug hassles. But chances are good
that henceforth if you have a note from your doctor -- or a reasonable
facsimile thereof -- the cops won't clap you in irons if you fire up a
joint inside the city limits.

Never should have tossed out that old roach clip and the ZigZag papers.