Pubdate: Fri, 05 Jan 2001
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2001 The Register-Guard
Contact:  PO Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188
Website: http://www.registerguard.com/

NO NEED FOR WAR EFFORT

"What did you do in the war, Daddy?" That question has always had a 
bracing effect. Those of age and suitability for service can answer 
well - who either patriotically placed themselves at risk for a war 
effort or conscientiously mustered the lonely courage it took to be 
counted in protest.

There has been an unrelenting war going on for 28 years. Every adult 
is to be counted - and asked this question. It's finally beginning to 
dawn on significant numbers of people that they've long been 
complicit - if only through AWOL silence - in what history will 
surely decry as an extension of the dark ages: our ruinous "war on 
drugs."

While still at zero deaths from ingestion, we're approaching an 
incredible half-million arrests a year for simple, nonaggravated 
possession of marijuana. (Compare that with 300,000 deaths a year 
from tobacco and zero arrests for adult use.) Because of this war, 
the street prices of illicit drugs run up to 50 times what they'd 
normally cost to produce and sell - which creates more than $100 
billion a year in theft and extortion.

The next four years are looking to be a mindless continuation of this 
war, but please don't blame the small percentage who conscientiously 
voted for honest third-party candidates such as Ralph Nader. Al 
Gore's White House Web site bragged how he and President Clinton had 
vastly expanded the war with marijuana-related arrests increasing 
from about 500,000 a year to more than 700,000: more arrests than for 
all other categories (murder, theft, etc.) combined. Who will end 
this cruel madness? Why can't the government just leave people alone 
to their choice of pleasures?

CRAIG DANIELS
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