Pubdate: Thu, 26 Jan 2006
Source: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Copyright: 2006 The Anchorage Daily News
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Author: Robert Weigle
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n060/a02.html

GETTING TOUGH ON METH LABS NOT SAME AS PRIVACY INFRINGEMENT

Can any reasonable, intelligent person make sense of the right to
smoke pot in the privacy of one's home being attached or somehow
related to, or even mentioned on the same page as the need to
strengthen meth lab investigations or anything to do with meth labs'
destructive public social effect? ("Lawmakers merge marijuana, meth
bills," Jan. 13.) The individual's constitutional rights cannot be
compromised by the needs of increased law enforcement in a separate
and different isolated area of lawmaking and/or law enforcing. In
short, individual pot smoking is way different; not dangerous to the
public.

Manufacturing meth is not a constitutional right, and it is dangerous
to the public. Getting tougher on meth labs is a separate and
worthwhile issue to pursue, ethically and financially, but any effort
to infringe on an individual's rights in the privacy of his or her
home is absolutely a different issue and unworthy of any connection to
meth labs.

Robert Weigle

Anchorage
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin