I commend Jim Dwyer for his well-reasoned commentary, "Amnesty? Let's help our own, also" [Bisbee Observer July 26, 2001.] He was right on target calling the American drug war a political one and "... a practice which should be condemned as a denial of the human rights of those who choose what we call drugs, while those who choose tobacco and alcohol, America's major killers, are considered merely exercising their right to slow suicide." I once tried to have a reasonable conversation with a member of the Bisbee Police Department about why marijuana, for example, was illegal. [continues 577 words]
Ignoring the elephant in the nation's living room, the Bush Inc. A- team (members must either have a bad heart, or no heart at all) are scrambling to find ways to make their hapless president appealing. Recently they hit upon amnesty for some 3 million illegals, who have crossed our southern border and are working in the U.S., illegally. Bush Inc. thinks that such an amnesty would increase Republican popularity among Hispanics. Maybe. Maybe not. But the elephant is still being ignored, as it was during the Gore-Bush campaign, i.e., the nearly 100-year-old Drug War, America's version of the Spanish Inquisition. [continues 699 words]
To the Editor: Bravo for Ellis Heckman's outstanding column, "Another look at drug abuse." We have a war on certain drugs that are substantially less harmful than either tobacco or alcohol because of the vested interest of people and organizations with power and influence. Until this situation is resolved, we will always have a war on some drugs. KIRK MUSE- Vancouver, Wash. [end]
To the Editor: Let's hear it for Ellis Heckman, who points out what anybody who's been paying attention already knows: if you want political action in this country you're going to have to pay for it. Look at the statistics - (http://www.opensecrets.org) - and it becomes woefully apparent that moneyed interests run the show, not the people of, by and for whom the government is supposed to be. Who do our drug laws really protect? The tobacco and alcohol industries (ever try to find out the nutritional content of a beer?), the prison and criminal justice industries (don't we always "need" more law enforcement and lawyers?), and most unsettling of all, the drug lords who are enjoying virtually undisturbed progress and profits. And with so many industries involved there's little hope for the mere citizens of ever seeing laws the reflect their wishes, needs and desires. What we need are a few good politicians whom money can't buy. NANCY WEAVER Bisbee [end]
Bravo for Ellis Heckman's outstanding column, "Another look at drug abuse." We have a war on certain drugs that are substantially less harmful than either tobacco or alcohol because of the vested interest of people and organizations with power and influence. Until this situation is resolved, we will always have a war on some drugs. KIRK MUSE, Vancouver, Wash. [end]
Ellis Heckman's excellent Sept. 7 column [in The Bisbee Observer] noted that far more Americans are killed by alcohol and tobacco than illegal drugs. The hypocrisy of America's drug policy is all the more glaring when you consider that the most popular illicit drug, marijuana, has never been shown to cause an overdose death. This is fairly common knowledge and leads to widespread disrespect for the law. While the federal government continues to arrest and incarcerate pot smokers, including medical marijuana patients, America is on the verge of electing a former marijuana smoker as president. Vice President Al Gore is an acknowledged ex-pot smoker. George W Bush's waffling all but confirms a past history of illegal drug use. Yet both mainstream candidates implicitly support the incarceration of Americans who engage in the same youthful indiscretions they once did. This "tough on drugs" posturing puts American children at risk. [continues 140 words]
According to the Centers for Disease Control, around 14,000 Americans die of illegal drug-related causes annually. About 81,000 people die alcohol-related deaths. Cigarette smoking accounts for 430,000 deaths a year. It's possible to do some elementary math with these numbers and conclude: . Almost six times as many people die from alcohol-related causes as from illegal drug-related causes. . About 30 times as many people die from smoking cigarettes as from illegal drug-related causes. [continues 607 words]
Fourth of July 2010. The Drug War has been over for nearly 10 years. In one of his last acts as president, Bill Clinton pardoned non-violent prisoners and sent them home to their families. Welfare rolls shrunk. Empty cells in Cochise County prisons and jails were turned into motel rooms by former illegal immigrants, who were taught construction skills on the job by a coalition of Hispanic contractors. They lived there, being paid for their remodeling work, while the newly created Department of Family Support sought job training, educational, and employment possibilities for them on a world-wide Internet Opportunity Web site. [continues 736 words]
