Pubdate: Sun, 19 Dec 2010
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2010 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Charles P. Pierce, Globe Lifestyles Columnist

LAME BLAME

An Ounce of Pot Does Not a Thousand Joints Make.

Dear Gerry Leone: I sympathize. Truly, I do. The state chose to 
reform its marijuana laws by the half measure of decriminalization of 
small amounts rather than full legalization, and, no matter how tiny 
your stash is, you still can't spell "decriminalization" without 
"criminal." But, honestly, as Middlesex district attorney, you're 
going to have to do a better job making your case than you have done. 
When we voted in Question 2 - a.k.a. "The Snack Food Support Act of 
2008" - a while back, we did so as an informed, if somewhat 
slow-moving, electorate uniquely aware of the subject at hand. (There 
are a lot of us who still own Wishbone Ash albums, if you know what I 
mean, and I think you do.) Nobody . . . er . . . blew smoke in our 
eyes. Therefore, your plaintive pleas of late have fallen on deaf 
ears or, at least, ears muffled by earbuds. At one point, you asked, 
"Can't anyone get through the day without a drink or a drug?" I 
believe that, in the former case, the United States of America 
answered the question rather definitively between the years 1920 and 
1933. As to the latter case, there are several large pharmaceutical 
companies that would like a word with you. But you also argued that 
"an ounce of marijuana can make a thousand joints." Really? Where? In 
the Land of the Lost? You'd have to have leaves the size of a phone 
book to make this true. Do yourself a favor and relax. Have a potato chip.  
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake