A Priority for Grass

As thermometers hit unseasonable highs throughout much of the East and Midwest last week, Americans turned their attention to grass--seeds, weedkillers, fertilizers, mowers, sprinklers and all those things that are supposed to turn lawns and neighbors green. But in Berkeley, Calif., home of the Free Speech movement and other radical causes, citizens were busy greening a different kind of grass. By the overwhelming vote of 28,116 to 18,032, the young, liberal voters of that campus town passed the Berkeley Marijuana Initiative, ordering police to give marijuana laws "their lowest priority" and requiring authorization of the Berkeley city council for every "arrest for possession, use or cultivation" of the weed. Appalled police officials quickly pointed out that the initiative conflicts with California state laws and threatened that if the council did not give them a free hand in enforcing those laws, they might have to call in state authorities. But Berkeley citizens evidently felt that the police these days have more pressing tasks to perform than busting marijuana users.

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