Pubdate: Fri, 29 Aug 1997
Source: Spokesman-Review, Spokane (WA)
Author: Randall G. Clifford

So kind of Rep. Mark Sterk to reveal his linear perception of a most
complex issue of our time: Illegal drugs. Regarding I-685, our medical
marijuana initiative, Sterk said, "I would never legalize drugs."

Of course we have all kinds of legal drugs now. Billions of dollars are
spent each year promoting some of our most lethal drugs to children. Look
at the billboards. Look at the hydroplanes and race cars and stadiums. Look
in the grocery stores and quickie-marts. Watch the Superbowl. All the
protect-our-kids rhetoric is rotten hypocrisy.

Money has smothered reason in American politics. Campain financing is an
influence bazaar where for the right price you can walk away with just
about anything. Lots of money there for lawmakers willing to go real low.
On the law enforcement side, arrest a drunk driver or child molester or
burglar and it generates no money. If a few marijuana plants are found on a
property--Bingo! Seize the property, sell it and use the proceeds to find
more plants on more properties and on and on. This is an ugly situation in
a land becoming less and less free.

And please remember, Sterk is running for sheriff.

Government is not serving the voters. Government is serving the ones buying
the votes. But hope is growing. Voters who understand drugs are replacing
voters blinded by 60 years of big-bucks propaganda. Knee-jerk politicos
obsessed with spending vast sums of taxpayer money hunting down and locking
up marijuana smokers might be replaced with people more willing and able to
reason.

Randall G. Clifford
Spokane, WA