King Kaufman's Sports Daily

 

Source: salon.com

Pub Date: Tuesday 15 June 2004

Subj: King Kaufman's Sports Daily

Web: http://www.salon.com/news/sports/col/kaufman/2004/06/15/tuesday/index_np.html

 

Fifty-thousand English soccer fans have followed the country's side to Lisbon, Portugal, for the Euro 2004 tournament, and police braced themselves for serious trouble as England met France in a first-round game Sunday. But even as an estimated 15,000 people jammed the Rossio, Lisbon's town square, in an impromptu pre-match party, and even as France scored twice in injury time for a stunning 2-1 win, all was peaceful, blissful, friendly, groovy.

The reason? Look no further than the Lisbon police's announced policy that marijuana smokers would be unmolested, the idea being that while drinkers get rowdy, pot smokers bliss out. "If people are drinking they lose control," said Alan Buffry, national coordinator of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, a British political party. "If they smoke cannabis they don't. Alcohol makes fans fight. But cannabis smokers will be shaking hands and singing along together."

 

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