Pubdate: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 Source: Tuscola County Advertiser (Caro, MI) Copyright: 2008 Michigan Media, a division of the Edwards Group Contact: http://www.tuscolatoday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4678 Author: Bob Wood Title: By MAP END OUR SADISTIC DRUG WAR Dear Editor, What good has the hundreds of billions of U.S. tax dollars that we have paid to foreign governments like Columbia done to ebb the flow of drugs into our country? Nothing; drugs are more powerful and more plentiful than ever before. Over the past 20 years, 300,000 Columbians have lost their lives due to drug war violence, including four presidential candidates, some 200 court justices, 2,000 police officers and prosecutors, and 150 journalists have been assassinated. In Columbia's municipal elections just a few months ago, 36 candidates for mayor were assassinated and 50 more were kidnapped. Elected officials, judges, police officers and entire military units are corrupted with cash from the drug cartels. The drug war created and continues to fuel civil war in Columbia and many other countries at U.S. taxpayer expense. Columbia is just one of many nations that we give U.S. tax dollars to in order to carry out our drug war. It is no wonder that our country is nine trillion dollars in debt to other nations like China. The violence that has plagued Columbia has made its way to our southern border. Mexico is experiencing some of the same type of violence that Columbia continues to endure. If we continue our current failed drug war policies, our country will soon start experiencing the same type of violence that Columbia is experiencing. The illegal drug trade has created the most lucrative industry in the world with the black market drug trade, and threatens all Americans. We need to legalize, regulate and tax all medicinal herbs and educate our children about them, restore our constitutional rights, and end our sadistic drug war. Sadly enough, we will never end the drug war until we kick the special interest lobbyists out of Washington and replace our corrupted elected officials that support the drug war. The pharmaceutical companies have paid billions to keep the medicinal plants illegal because they cannot patent them and would lose billions if people started growing their own medicine for free. Bob Wood Caro - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake