Monday, Sep. 17, 1973
Potluck
No one paid much attention to the two casually dressed young men who walked into a cable-television office in Gainesville, Fla., last week. They smiled at a young volunteer manning a telephone for the Jerry Lewis muscular dystrophy telethon, laid a brown paper bag in front of her, and said pleasantly, "Here, this is for you." Then they left.
Local Muscular Dystrophy Chairman Ron Bauldree opened the bag and found ten bundles of mostly $20 and $100 bills. Attached was a note: "$10,000 for M.D. collected by the Gainesville Marijuana Dealers Association. Right on."
A stunned Bauldree summoned police, who determined that the money had not been stolen. So it was sent to the headquarters of the muscular dystrophy campaign. As to the identity of the donors, Sun Bank Vice President Jim Johnson declared: "It could be local marijuana dealers who just wanted to do something nice. From what I hear, giving $10,000 certainly wouldn't hurt them financially." There is, of course, no official Gainesville Marijuana Dealers Association--at least not yet. But as pot smoking becomes increasingly accepted (TIME, Sept. 10), a new breed of long-haired millionaire philanthropists may be appearing on the horizon.
What next? A pot dealers' hospital wing? Operas commissioned for the counterculture? University fellowships in psychedelic studies?
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