Pubdate: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 Source: Watertown Daily Times (NY) Copyright: 2001 Watertown Daily Times Contact: http://www.wdt.net Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/792 Author: Lee Monnet Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1851.a04.html CHANGE DRUG POLICIES This letter is in response to a recent article printed in the Watertown Daily Times headed "Law Makers may Scrutinize Budget of Drug Task Force". St. Lawrence County Legislator Peter Fitzrandolph (D) Canton asked county Sheriff Gary Jarvis some valid questions regarding the effectiveness of the drug task force at the legislatures October 31 finance committee meeting. Mr. Fitzrandolph asked the sheriff when we can expect to get the big players in the drug trade and that it seems all we are doing is arresting small-time people, at a considerable cost to county taxpayers. In the last 30 years we have been spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a failed war on drugs at a cost to our civil liberties and privacy. It has been an excuse to undermine our financial privacy while promoting illegal searches and seizures. Many people losing their lives and property. With profit incentives so high people are always going to smuggle, produce, sell, and profit from illegal and artificially high priced drugs. We have learned the hard way that alcohol prohibition of the 1920's created a completely unregulated market which allowed gangsters to gain huge profits, corrupt police, judges, and every level of government. They murdered their competition and sometimes produced lethal products that killed or seriously injured the consumer. The drug war is not unlike alcohol prohibition. A recent example of the corruption caused by drug profits is the arrest of a Rome city councilman who was charged with conspiring to sell cocaine. Mr. Fitzrandolph is not alone in questioning the direction of our current drug policies. Governors Johnson (R) New Mexico and Ventura (I) Minnesota have joined a growing list of political office holders who have voiced their opposition to the draconian drug laws. Lee Monnet Ogdensburg, NY - --- MAP posted-by: GD