cannabisnews.com: E-Mail Attack: Readers Read a Lot Into Pot Column





E-Mail Attack: Readers Read a Lot Into Pot Column
Posted by CN Staff on August 21, 2003 at 21:15:30 PT
By Susan Paynter, Columnist
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer 
Ah, the good old days. It seems like only yesterday I was a left-wing wacko.One column later -- one column siding with cops against Initiative 75 to keep marijuana illegal but make police ignore the law -- and I'm a right-wing, Bush-hugging, flag-waving conservative. Worse, I've hopped into bed with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske and City Attorney Tom Carr.
And I can tell you it's dang crowded in here and the guys are hogging the remote.Out of the more than 75 e-mails that had already smacked me upside the head by lunchtime on Wednesday, only one both grasped and appreciated the gist."Your point -- that if we (adults or young people) don't like the rules, work to change them, don't just pretend they don't exist -- is right on-target," Terry Seaman wrote.For the rest, the only thing right on target was my posterior for, among other atrocities, opposing marijuana for medical use (I don't). And favoring a fascist state. (I haven't voted fascist in ages).Jeez. I thought marijuana made you mellow, dude."Dear Reasonable-Yet-With-Proper-Family-Values-Columnist,"Far be it for our country to really be a democracy ... far be it that we should actually enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," Rick Kelly wrote. "We get a lot of flag wavers these days who think what's important is the flag, not the values that stand behind it. And any criticism of Bush is unpatriotic."(See, right off, you've got to figure Rick doesn't read me real often.) "Good, foursquare moms like yourself, no doubt between martinis, want to downplay the FACT that a lot of people support marijuana use or at least are not bothered by it!" Rick accused.Hey! I'm saying that legislation to keep pot a crime but mandate looking the other way is a mixed message that breeds contempt for the law. And make that a single malt Scotch."You lack rationale, the big picture, and you are narrow-minded. I am tired of reading slop like I read from you ...," wrote Brent Woods, one of many to romantically link me with Ashcroft.Brent suggested I save my "bias for fools and idiots that watch Fox News."And no sooner had Harry Fisher charged me with painting "florid, extreme scenarios," but there was this from Richard Nielsen:"Do you really want to put millions of Americans, including your children, at risk of the horrors of our medieval jails and prisons, to be sodomized, to lose their teeth and their citizenship and voting rights forever and be infected with the AIDS virus ...?," he asked.At least he said, "Thank you for keeping us thinking."Many readers cited studies "proving" the harmlessness of cannabis compared with alcohol, which wasn't really the issue I'd bitten off to chew on. But Scott Burke's assertion sure got my attention."Studies have shown that high school students who smoke marijuana are statistically, significantly more socially adjusted than their peers who have never smoked," he said.And Pam may have a news story on her hands. "Jack Cole of L.E.A.P. (Law Enforcers Against Prohibition) signed up three Seattle Police officers at Hempfest," she said.Cool. And, if true, I'd like to be the first to request an interview, please, officers?In fairness, a gratifying number of calls and messages from readers such as Peter Toliver, thoughtfully proposed that parents convey the hard and complex truth, not dogma, to kids sorting out a daily barrage of intoxicating messages about tobacco and alcohol. I agree.The truth, Mark Panitch wrote, is that, "as a prosecutor and public defender, I handled scads of violent crimes and I estimate that at least 90 percent of them involved alcohol. I never saw any marijuana users hurt themselves or others except by accident.""You're right. Rather than looking the other way and still having a law on the books, we should remove the laws that govern marijuana use," Tim Mendes wrote. "But then we'd have to actually take a reasonable look at a substance that is no worse, and in some respects better than alcohol."Then there was this cheery postcard from a Brit who's moving to Seattle next week:Don't fret, Brian Esler soothed. The "wink, wink" policy, known as "softly, softly" in London, works swimmingly over there. "Seattle residents have nothing to fear."And neither do you, dear reader. I'll be my old lefty wacko self before you know it.Susan Paynter's column appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)Author: Susan Paynter, Seattle Post-Intelligencer ColumnistPublished: Friday, August 22, 2003Copyright: 2003 Seattle Post-IntelligencerContact: editpage seattle-pi.comWebsite: http://www.seattle-pi.com/Related Article & Web Site:Seattle Hempfesthttp://www.hempfest.org/Winking at Pot Use is Risky Businesshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17104.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by freedom fighter on August 22, 2003 at 15:49:43 PT
Winking at the Pot Laws! LTA
Dear SusanYour articles about "Winking" at the new pot law is very amusing... I mean, after all, I am sure that the law enforcers "winked" at thousands of human beings who attended HempFest. Of course, it is unofficial! Just think about it for a second. 200 thousands human beings and only 10-12 arrests? Wink! Wink!Before you go, "Oh, comeon, cops could'nt possibly arrest everyone at the HempFest.", Wink! Wink!Now, you get the picture! Pray tell me, how can I respect the nature of "Justice" right now?Why not make it, at least, official unless you got a better idea how we can legalize and regulate this substance. You know, licensed establishment that will check everyone's ID.Wink! Wink!Respectfully Yours
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Comment #5 posted by afterburner on August 22, 2003 at 13:59:48 PT:
Change the Law, or Change the Lawyers!
Is that simple enough for you, Ms. Paynter? "Jeez. I thought marijuana made you mellow, dude." It does, but cannabis prohibition doesn't. If "a left-wing wacko" doesn't get that, it looks like the emails came just in time. Help us teach the rest of the country about the stonewall that the federal government has erected using our tax dollars, sabotaging research and citizen initiatives, mercilessly lying about cannabis to keep their own bloated power intact, and even attacking medical cannabis patients and their providers.ego transcendence follows ego destruction, "come Senators, Congressmen, please heed the call, don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall, for he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled, the battle outside raging will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls for the times they are a-changin'." (--Bob Dylan)
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Comment #4 posted by Celaya on August 22, 2003 at 10:27:16 PT
My letter to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
RE: Susan Paynter's column, "E-Mail Attack: Readers Read a Lot Into Pot Column"I'd like to help you understand the frustration of those writers who you believed failed to "grasp and appreciate the gist" of your column. You state that gist was people who don't like the rules, should work to change them, not to just pretend they don't exist.The problem is, that is impossibly simplistic. It reminds me of Steve Martin's old comedy routine.---- "I have devised a two-step plan for anyone to get a million dollars and never pay taxes!---- First - Get a million dollars. Next - Don't pay taxes!"The struggle to do the right thing and end the prohibition of a substance much less harmful than alcohol, marijuana, has been going on for at least 30 years. The problem is the movement has been up against a carefully cultivated public apathy and a corporate/government junta that is obviously not motivated by a desire to help the people. Their real motivations are money and population control. Please read Catherine Austin Fitts´ ¨Narco Dollars for Beginners.¨ http://www.narconews.com/narcodollars1.html And "The War On Drugs: An Interview with Noam Chomsky."http://monkeyfist.com/ChomskyArchive/interviews/drugs_html Because marijuana is the most widely used "illegal" drug, it is also the underpinning of prohibition in general. Without marijuana prohibition, our "leaders" could not maintain their precious fraud. Have you ever wondered why we have a government office, the ONDCP, that has a multi-billion dollar budget - not to help people involved in drugs, but to fight against ending marijuana prohibition? If you doubt that, just look at where its director, John Walters, has been spending most of his energy. Has it not seemed ludicrous to you that Walters main message is that "marijuana use is the biggest problem this country faces?"Almost 800,000 people are arrested (persecuted) in the U.S. each year for marijuana possession. More than thirty years of trying to change the laws has not worked because power holds onto its gold mine/social hammer with a death grip.It is understandable, and admirable, that those working for justice will try any and all methods to end the evil oppression.
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Comment #3 posted by Lehder on August 22, 2003 at 07:07:26 PT
It could happen to your theories too
It's like Pat Robertson said of Carl Sagan: "All his theories and teachings just went up in a cloud of marijuana smoke."How can I convince Americans that my theories are righteous and true? The best and most convincing way is to find someone who disagrees with my theories and kill him in a big fight.
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on August 22, 2003 at 05:54:35 PT
This column
So, let me get this straight. We've got a rotten, corrupt government that directly ignores that fact that 80% of us want legal medical marijuana, even though their job title is to REPRESENT their constituents.Sadly, the conversion to a police state is mostly complete and the sleazy AMERICAN government officials have been so stubborn, and so steadfast, in refusing to do the right thing for 80 years, that activists are forced to take a compromise approach of reducing "priority" of attacking cannabis-using people. Therefore, the cannabis users are at fault for supporting a less than 100% logical initiative. People that, in Washington state, have been desparately trying different configurations of ballot questions and legislative action for DECADES, trying to improve our laws and society. The fascist political class is just ducky though! Seeing that she reads her emails (kudos for that at least), I'm going to forward this to the author!
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Comment #1 posted by gloovins on August 22, 2003 at 05:40:22 PT
Did any of you see this (I forgot how 2 submit)...
so here it is : Don't think I ever saw it here but sorry if it was ..Decorated Hickam Pilot Discharged For Pot Bust
Honolulu Star-Bulletin ^ | April 26, 2003 | Gregg KakesakoDECORATED HICKAM PILOT DISCHARGED FOR POT BUST A highly decorated 1991 Desert Storm Air Force pilot, caught trying to smuggle a gram of marijuana in his underwear through a mainland airport security checkpoint last year, will be dishonorably discharged. Lt. Col. Jonathan Wills, who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for combat missions against Iraq 12 years ago during the Gulf War, was apprehended May 31 by security officials at the San Antonio Airport, said Maj. Almarah Belk, Hickam Air Force Base spokeswoman. Wills, who was assigned to the directorate of air and space operations at Headquarters, Pacific Air Forces, at Hickam, was returning from temporary duty in San Antonio when he was stopped. Belk said San Antonio Airport security officials asked Wills to turn down the waistband of his underwear during routine security screening. "The guard noticed a piece of plastic sticking out of his underwear," she said. The package contained less than a gram of marijuana. Wills was turned over to San Antonio police and finally Air Force officials. Belk said urinalysis revealed that Wills had used marijuana. At an April 15 court-martial at Hickam, Belk said Wills pleaded guilty to charges of possessing and using marijuana. He was sentenced to 14 days' confinement in the Ford Island brig and will be dishonorably discharged. Besides the Distinguished Flying Cross, Wills was awarded two Air Medals and a Navy Commendation Medal during his 18-year Air Force career.
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