More Tex, less Mex

[R ed Bug]

Responding to Peter's response to my post, I am referring to a rather
large segment of the population in Mendocino and Humboldt counties in No.
Cal. in the 70s who grew pot. I had friends in this "crowd" and could
probably make roughly the same claim Jules did, except I only visited and
didn't live there. They were basically good people growing and selling a
substance they didn't consider harmful. Of course there were "harder"
types, and as money began to play a larger role they began to proliferate.
However, I think Jules was referring to the type of people *I* knew (I
don't have the original post at hand, so...). And we were talking about
the scene at the time Vineland occurs in, a time at the cusp between the
gentler growers and the outside hardcore types. The dialogue of Vineland
was perhaps sometimes a bit overdone, caricaturesque, but there were
people who talked like that, believe me. Maybe Jules didn't know any, but 
I met a few. Just depends who your friends were.

As to TRP's attitude about pot these days, M&D makes a pretty good case
for his attitude not having changed much. Marijuana is presented as a
benign substance which nudges one toward absurd humor and deep thoughts. 

Tim Ware

On Thu, 3 Jul 1997, Peter Giordano wrote:

> Tim sez:
> >Regarding all this noise about "criminals," do Sojourner and the
> >Librarian (or anyone else) really have a problem with No. Calif. marijuana
> >growers who are the folks Jules was talking about.
> >
> >I suppose I'd be surprised to find that more than a few people on this
> >list would consider the growing and harvesting of "that still useful
> >substance" (or however TRP put it in his intro to Slow Learner) a criminal
> >act, in the, um, negative sense.
> >
> >Just heard on the radio that 59% of the prisoners are in for drug-related
> >offenses. I feel safer already.
> I respond:
> If by "the Librarian" you mean me, I'm not sure I understand the question -
> Aren't there several different issues here?  Do I think it's "cool" to
> boast of a life of crime which includes SELLING drugs?  No, I don't think I
> do - What turned me off to the drug culture was a very sad segment on NPR a
> few years back - They played a tape of a Federal DEA agent being tortured
> to death by "friendly marijuanna growers" - I figured if those guys are
> willing to murder and maim just to defend my right to toke up maybe I want
> to find another form of recreation - If you mean do I care if somebody has
> a potted pot plant on his balcony?  Why should I?  I also wonder if
> fatherhood has changed trp's mind aboout drugs - It's been known to happen
> - Personally, I wouldn't condemn anybody for seeking that sort of
> recreation but I would condemn somebody who puts a gun to somebody else's
> head for the sake of profit - Another way to put it: there are plenty of
> good wholesome people who cultivate and/or smoke pot but there are a lot of
> bad guys out there willing to do anything for a buck
> 
> By the way, there was an interesting article about soliciting drugs via the
> web in the NY Times last Friday
> 
> Peter Giordano
> Williams College
> Williamstown, MA
> 
> 
>