DRUG WARS

Thank you for the Tommy Chong update and a pulse-reading on the
movement ["Tommy Chong's Next Movie," Dec. 4]. There is some twisted
irony going on here in California with the state now being run by a
man who has made millions starring in violence-glorifying movies while
a local, respected, family man, who has made millions of people laugh
in his movies and on TV, is in prison for selling pipes. Using the
ridiculous logic of Tommy's arrest (or perhaps more appropriately, the
apprehension of his on-screen persona), the feds ought to be busting
every gun manufacturer in the country if one of its firearms had ever
landed in the hands of someone who happened to so much as think about
using it to commit a crime, let alone execute one. The feds just don't
get it. If Mr. Schwarzenegger wants to show some righteous gumption,
he'd get behind front-burner social issues like marijuana
decriminalization and medicinal marijuana advocacy and make some noise
about the federal government's absurd incarceration of Tommy Chong.

Sure would be refreshing if a politician with clout took a courageous
and forward-thinking stand against this administration's dangerous,
expensive, home-wrecking and out-of-touch anti-marijuana policies. Or
am I just California dreaming?

Gary Lane

North Hollywood