Smoke invades the tent set up outside a police academy, while the police watch, impassive, the dozen guests cheerfully tugging at their joints. As described by the journalist of Wall Street Journal, “the atmosphere was so cool”, and agents even provided crisps and pizza when hunger set in. The American daily takes its readers to Maryland, where Montgomery County Lieutenant John O’Brien urges cannabis lovers to pretend nothing has happened. “Treat yourself”, he lets go, while the interested parties unpack blunts, pipes and pouches of grass.
“But the purpose of the operation was quite serious,” remind him Wall Street Journal. The aim was to confront the agents with the effects of cannabis on the citizens, but also to make marijuana smokers aware of the risks of driving under psychoactive substances. Montgomery County pioneered these “Green Labs,” a program that was later replicated at facilities in Ohio and the state of
