Pubdate: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 Source: Kelowna Capital News (BC) Copyright: 2001, Kelowna Capital News Ltd. Contact: http://www.kelownacapnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1294 Author: Alan Randell Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1249/a09.html NO GOOD REASON TO PERSECUTE POT USERS To the editor: Re: "Proposed pot laws murky for all," July 8. Extraordinary. Nowhere in Barry Gerding's lengthy analysis of the legal status of medical marijuana is any mention that punishing people for ingesting this or that drug is a grievous assault of their God-given right to ingest anything they've a mind to. The purpose of the war on drugs is to indulge in a brutal pogrom directed by the state against an identifiable minority of innocent drug users. Why? Because it's exhilarating fun for those in positions of power and it distracts the people's attention away from real problems. There is no reason to punish drug users and distributors today than there was in the past to hang witches, lynch blacks or gas Jews. Alan Randell, Victoria - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk