STARKS — The state drug enforcement chief took the criticism in stride when he attended a meeting of supporters of legalized marijuana who want to revise Maine’s drug laws.

Frank Amoroso, director of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, sought Tuesday night to defend law enforcers, and, at one point, got in a heated exchange with a man who described himself as a Vietnam veteran.

“We don’t make the laws. They’re your laws,” said Amoroso. “We may not all agree with them, but they’re laws. If we don’t like the laws, we work to change them.”

The town, frustrated by drug raids and low-flying National Guard helicopters used to search for marijuana plants, voted early this year to legalize marijuana.

The war veteran, who declined to give his name, said he was a registered Maine guide who smoked hemp with police officers and considered himself a responsible citizen.

“You have to stop assaulting these people,” he told the drug chief.

Amoroso said he wasn’t surprised by the frosty reception at the meeting of a panel that’s working to change the state drug laws.

“I didn’t come here tonight to be treated nicely,” he said. “I came here to listen to what your concerns were. I want to do what’s right for this state and this community.”