Pubdate: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2001 Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: Eugene Oscapella Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1062/a08.html?81129 DIRTY LAUNDRY Re: One Step Closer to a Police State, June 15. The war on drugs has served as a justification for numerous, often excessive, intrusions into the private lives of Canadians -- the latest being the federal money-laundering provisions described by Terence Corcoran. Nothing more closely resembles the actions of an authoritarian society than the intrusions we are forced to endure in this futile and destructive war. First, we engender a lucrative black market by prohibiting drugs. Then, to attack the profits flowing from the black market we create, police and governments assert the right to diminish the fundamental rights of all Canadians. Eventually, those "exceptional" powers of intrusion introduced to deal with drugs will evolve into the norm in many areas of state-citizen interaction. Sic transit liberty. Eugene Oscapella Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy Ottawa - --- MAP posted-by: Beth