Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 03:10:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Amer. Anti-Prohibition Lg." <[aal 01] at [teleport.com]>
Subject: PDX MARIJUANA WITCH HUNT

                     American Anti-Prohibition League
               3125 SE Belmont Street - The Phantom Gallery
                         Portland, Oregon, 97214
                               503-235-4524
                        email: [AAL 01] at [teleport.com]
                                  Friday
                               May 24, 1996
                      *** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***
            PORTLAND POLICE SAY POT WORTH $2,153.85 PER PLANT,
                  BUT EACH PLANT ONLY WEIGHS 1.3 GRAMS!?

      Portland, Oregon -- According to an official news release dated
    May 21, 1996 issued by Public Information Officer C.W. Jensen, the
    bureau's Marijuana Task Force seized over 13,000 marijuana plants
    in 1995.  This, so says the release, was equivalent to 17,067
    grams worth of marijuana plants "worth almost $28,000,000."
    That's $28 MILLION.  Ok, let's do the math:
                             Value Per Plant
            $28,000,000 / 13,000 plants = $2,153.85 per plant
                             Weight Per Plant
           17,067 grams / 13,000 plants = 1.313 grams per plant
                              Price Per Gram
                 $2,153.85 / 1.313  = $1,640.40 per gram
      Obviously these figures do NOT jive, the real value of one gram
    (approximately 3 joints) of good - but not excellent - indoor bud
    is actually about $15.00.  The federal government estimates each
    plant it gets weighs 100 grams (3.57 ounces).  Using the MTF's
    numbers, one pound of pot would sell for $45,931.20.  Indeed weed
    is not cheap (due to the prohibition subsidy) but even this is way
    out of line with reality.
      All this hoopla begs the issue.  Did arresting all these pot
    farmers in 1995 really make Portland a safer place to live?  How
    many families - who were doing just fine - have now lost their
    primary wage earners, are now on welfare and food stamps?  How
    many families with small kids have been brutalized by these MTF
    thugs (they act and dress just like gang bangers) in this
    hypocritical war on (some) drugs?  I have  personally met and
    talked with several in the course of my anti-prohibition activism.
    Portland NORML has a file of about 45 individual cases, all of
    them personal use, small scale.  This is family values?
      How much did it cost us in 1995 to protect adults from
    themselves?  It still amazes me that seemingly rational people can
    act so stupid when it comes to (some) drugs.  This hypocrisy,
    these glaring disparities between the effect of a drug and its
    legal status screams for correction, cries for justice.  Alas it
    would appear none of these people - or the press and media -
    really cares about any of that.  Perhaps with good reason.
      Which brings up yet another issue.  What about corruption?
    While everyone's cheering these goons on, is anyone keeping an eye
    on the drugs, the money, the guns?  Where are all these pot
    plants, all these hard drugs going?  Who's in charge of them,
    where's the inventory?  Do MTF officers get drug tested?  Does the
    mayor, the DA?  Are their bank accounts scrutinized?  I'm not a
    vindictive person but I'm sick of my local police and government
    acting like a bunch of nazis who conspire with the press and media
    to conduct what amounts to a witch hunt.  You should all be
    ashamed of yourselves for the harm you've done to good, decent
    people.
                           *** END RELEASE ***
    Floyd Ferris Landrath - Director, American Anti-Prohibition League

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