ON THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT - WASTED ON PIPE DREAMS

As we prepare to go to war with Iraq and continue fighting terrorism at
home, it is appalling that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has
chosen to step up the attacks on businesspeople by going after pipe- and
bong-makers and sellers ("U.S. raids firms selling items used by pot
smokers," Feb. 25). Where are the government's priorities?

Let's waste some more resources on "Operation Pipe Dreams"! The message the
DEA and Office of National Drug Control Policy send by going after
"paraphernalia" (pipe) sellers is that the drug warriors have too much time
on their hands and too much money to spend.

This latest move is another misguided action stemming from their policy to
demonize cannabis consumers, and it shows just how intellectually and
morally bankrupt they are.

The drug warriors raided last week all of the "easy" targets, including
three individuals from the Bay Area as well as Chong Glass of Los Angeles,
owned by actor-comedian Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong fame. But makers
and sellers of artistic glass pipes and bongs are not the enemy.

Our country is on heightened terror alert status as we head toward a
foreign war that could bring even more serious repercussions to our shores.

How appropriate is it to use law enforcement officers to seek out these
artists, craftspeople and business entrepreneurs? Not at all!

It is difficult to decipher the DEA's muddled thinking: "Hey, there are
some people using medical marijuana legally under state law! We better go
after the sick and, oh, yeah, imprison all their cannabis providers! And
take their pipes, too, so they can't take their medicine. Our national
security depends on it."

"Drug Czar" John Walters is living in his own dazed delusions.

He is so blinded by his mission to scapegoat marijuana users for society's
ills that he cannot see that marijuana prohibition and the need to get
tough on the smoking utensils is a frivolous waste of our tax dollars and
law-enforcement resources.

Walters claimed that last week's raids "send a clear and unambiguous
message to those who would poison our children: We will bring you to
justice, and we will act decisively to protect our young people from the
harms of illegal drugs." When will he go after the sellers of cigarettes?
Oh yeah, I forgot: Walters' Office of National Drug Control Policy tells us
in its ads that marijuana is more dangerous than cigarettes, even though
there are no known deaths from cannabis and hundreds of thousands die each
year from tobacco.

And even though cigarettes have a high potential for abuse, have no
accepted medical use and no medical value, they are legal and marijuana isn't.

"People selling drug paraphernalia are in essence no different than drug
dealers," said John Brown, acting DEA chief. "They are as much a part of
drug trafficking as (gun) silencers are a part of criminal homicide." Does
this mean the feds will be going after guns and silencers? Not on your
life. This failure of judgment -- being unable to see the difference
between marijuana, which has never caused a single death by overdose, and
guns, which kill uncounted people each year -- illustrates the insanity of
federal drug policy.

Fear, fear, fear. Now, we must be afraid of these big, bad paraphernalia
people.

They are so dangerous.

Another flaw in this logic is that many water pipes, carburated glass
pipes, etc., are designed to cool smoke and increase the amount of oxygen
taken with the inhalation to reduce potential harm from smoke.

Without them, people simply use ordinary tobacco pipes or fashion soda
cans, ink pens, apples and aluminum foil into pipes.

Readily available, these methods may carry other risks, like exposure to
aluminum.

Will the DEA next go after stores that sell Pepsi, Bics and Reynolds Wrap
to arrest the owners and shut them down? Anything can be paraphernalia,
after all.

Get Walters and Brown real jobs fighting terror, instead of the outdated
battle against paraphernalia. For the sake of our national security, they
need to be removed from office.