Pubdate: Fri, 09 Feb 2001 Source: Times Record News (TX) Copyright: 2001 The E.W. Scripps Co. Contact: 1301 Lamar, Wichita Falls, TX 76301 Fax: (940)767-1741 Feedback: http://www.trnonline.com/opinions2/letters/form.shtml Website: http://www.trnonline.com/ Author: Alan Randell Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n222/a06.html UNCONSTITUTIONAL Regarding "System's stance on illegal drugs filling Texas prisons," Feb. 6: You kill me. It's all very well to call for a change in Texas' drug policies because they don't work, but why do you ignore the fact that they are also unconstitutional? Where is it written in the US Constitution that the state has the right to punish people for what they choose to ingest into their own bodies? Government has no more right to tell its people what they cannot eat than to tell them what they cannot read. Remember when America was known as the land of the free and served as a beacon of liberty for the whole world? How sad to think how much has changed. Alan Randell Victoria, British Columbia - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D