Pubdate: Thu, 01 Nov 2012
Source: Daily Sentinel, The (Grand Junction, CO)
Copyright: 2012 Cox Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.gjsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2084
Author: Marjorie Haun

AMENDMENT 64 WILL NOT END THE WAR ON DRUGS

I was astonished to see an ex-cop from Denver do a pro-Amendment 64 
ad on the basis that the "war on drugs doesn't work."

The fact is that the war on drugs will not go away just because the 
use of one illicit drug becomes a protected right. There will still 
be meth, cocaine, heroine and scores of designer narcotics, 
pharmaceuticals, off-the-shelf substances and unregulated pot that 
will come across the border and continue to spread in all parts of the country.

Legalizing pot will not end or even put a dent in the war on drugs. 
That argument is another deceptive fallacy.

The first solution is to physically secure the borders and enforce 
current immigration law. Continue random searching of vehicles coming 
from Mexico and Canada and patrol the skies over the borders using drones.

Allow border states like Arizona to enforce existing law and use 
technological innovations to secure their own borders.

Drugs in America are not a result of too much government. They are a 
symptom of a spiritual and moral crisis in our civil society. The war 
on drugs will not end until the war against God and morality is ended 
and parents and our social institutions begin to model moral behavior 
for the younger generations and governments end constraints on 
religion in public spaces.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, 
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to 
assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of 
grievances," reads the First Amendment.

America needs a spiritual revival to address the problem of drugs in 
our homes, schools and communities. Permissive laws that encourage 
the sale of destructive substances will only add to the moral crisis 
that is already destroying us from within.

MARJORIE HAUN

Grand Junction
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom