How many times do we have to remind everyone of the dangers of prohibition - -- now masquerading as the "dangers of drugs and drug use" -- before people wake up? How many more people will have to go to jail for possession, selling, growing and manufacturing drugs before we realize there is a better way? How many more innocent people will have to die in drive-by shootings and mistaken home raids (by cops and crooks) before we try another approach, one that is demonstrated every day to be a better solution than prohibition? Who is killing or robbing for a Budweiser or a Marlboro? [continues 92 words]
When did our schools become prison camps? With each passing day, there are more school lock downs with commando-style raids on our children. Police do sweeps of the halls with their guns drawn and attack dogs at their side. How much longer will it be before one of our children is hurt, or worse killed, by the actions of our law enforcement agencies? Our kids are forced into mandatory drug tests but are not tested for alcohol. Why is this? [continues 58 words]
I watched the video of what looked like a special tactical unit storming into a high school in Goose Creek, S.C., on Nov. 8. Officers waved their guns at 15- to 18-year-old kids. Some were forced to look straight down the barrel of a gun. Kids were told to get down on the ground; some were handcuffed, detained while dogs barked at their feet. These officers, and school officials put those children in serious danger - all over a drug raid that turned up no drugs or any arrests. Now I understand President Bush, when he said, "Drugs transform schools into places of violence and chaos." It does not have to be like this! Charles Byrnes, Taylor Mill [end]
The U.S. government must be pleased with itself, bringing down a man who has spent most of his life making us laugh. Tommy Chong, one half of the Cheech and Chong comedy act that practically invented marijuana comedy back in the 1970s, was arrested for selling bongs and smoking paraphernalia. For this, our government has incarcerated a non-violent person for nine months. Does anyone think this will stop the sale and production of such products or stop the use of marijuana? [continues 51 words]
The U.S. government must be pleased with itself for bringing down a man who has spent most of his life making us laugh. Tommy Chong, one half of the Cheech & Chong comedy team that practically invented marijuana comedy back in the 1970s, was arrested for selling bongs, smoking paraphernalia. For this our U.S. Government has incarcerated a non-violent person for nine months. Does anyone believe that this will stop the sales, production of such products or stop the use of marijuana? [continues 56 words]
After 9/11, we saw the Taliban, which brought the world's annual $400 billion U.S. trade in drugs to a halt in Afghanistan, removed and replaced. At the same time, the world's western economies have been suffering a debilitating decline. Also, the Taliban was opposed to a Unocal oil pipeline through Afghanistan. Today, that $400 billion a year is safely back on its way to Wall Street. Thanks to fractional reserve banking, western banks can lend $10 to $20 for each of those dollars deposited. [continues 157 words]
The nation's drug czar, John Walters, has announced the start of his new 25 cities initiative to help combat the nation's drug problem at the local level. Does he really think going to the 25 largest cities in the United States is going to help solve the problems at local levels? What kind of plan is this? It is another failed plan, another waste of our tax dollars - a chance for him to sugarcoat the drug war. This 30-year war has not decreased supply or demand. It is a wasteful, counterproductive, government jobs program that creates the crime it claims to protect us from while tramping on the Bill of Rights in the process. The countries that have legalized, regulated or have decriminalized marijuana are not in a state of anarchy. Why does the U.S. government keep insisting we fight this war? Charles Byrnes, Taylor Mill [end]
Editor: Everyone has a stake in ending the war on drugs. Whether you are a parent concerned about protecting children from drug-related harm, a social justice advocate worried about racially disproportionate incarceration rates, an environmentalist seeking to protect the Amazon rainforest or a fiscally conservative taxpayer, you have a stake in ending the drug war. U.S. federal, state and local governments have spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to make America "drug-free." Yet heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illicit drugs are cheaper, purer and easier to get than ever before. [continues 160 words]
If organized crime were asked for a wish list, the present heroin distribution system would be on it. Resembling a self-replicating computer virus, the system forces each addict to introduce more users to the system, and a perfect feedback loop guaranteed to generate profits. Along for the ride are the AIDS and hepatitis viruses, also guaranteed longevity by the same feedback loop. Prohibition is killing your children. There is a reason that politicians won't listen. There must be great concern at the top of the power structure over the results of inquiries that will certainly be made in earnest when prohibition has finally collapsed. [continues 52 words]
Everyone has a stake in ending the war on drugs. Whether you're a parent concerned about protecting children from drug-related harm, a social justice advocate worried about racially disproportionate incarceration rates, an environmentalist seeking to protect the Amazon rain forest or a fiscally conservative taxpayer, you have a stake in ending the drug war. Federal, state and local governments have spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to make America "drug-free." Yet heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illicit drugs are cheaper, purer and easier to get than ever before. [continues 156 words]
