HIGH TIMES AND ROAD TO RUIN

To the Editor:

Your "puff piece" about John Buffalo Mailer and High Times magazine ("Who's
Smoking Now?" Nov. 16) let the magazine and its new executive editor off
the hook all too easily. The article notes without irony that High Times is
now supported largely by ads for "horticultural supplies." Apparently, Mr.
Mailer hopes that mainstream advertisers and newsstands will be ready to
support High Times once it takes the photos of marijuana off the cover.

Mainstream advertisers and newsstand owners should not be fooled: The
purpose of this magazine is not changed by the inclusion of an article
entitled "Abolish Schools? Are Our Schools Prisons?" (which your reporter
described as "a question about education reform"). The articles and
advertisements in High Times glorify drug use, and provide our youngsters
with a menu of how-to advice: how to grow your own (including the
opportunity to buy seeds through the mail), how to make a bong, how to beat
a drug test.

I have no doubt that the antiauthoritarian ideas promoted by High Times are
seductive and seem glamorous to many high school students; unfortunately
they promote behavior that too often results in heartbreak, in potential
that will never be realized, in crime or even in death.

If Mr. Mailer is successful, this magazine will be carried by more
newsstands and will be more easily available to teenagers. What a shame
that this intelligent, wealthy, well-connected young man is using his
talents to promote a culture that has ruined so many other young lives.

GINGER HARDWICK, Westfield, N.J.