In his introductory speech, Ethan Nadelman, director of the Lindesmith Center, asked the attendees, “Who are we?” He then went on to answer his question. “We are millions of Americans who have a mother, father, brother, sister or child be-hind bars. We are the ones who want to see them released. We are the people with HIV and AIDS and we are the people who love and care for them. We are the people who smoke marijuana and love marijuana.

And you know who else we are? We are the people who don’t smoke marijuana and are afraid of it. We are the people who demand the right to put into our bodies what-ever we choose. And we are the people color who have not forgotten where the drug laws first came from.” The one thing uniting this large and diverse gathering was the awareness of the failure and true cost of the drug war and a commitment ending that war, freeing it’s prisoners and bringing peace to our communities.

Although the conference received no media attention in this part of the country, reporters from western states packed press conference rooms and besieged speakers and panelists. The New Mexico press was especially well represented, which is understandable given the identity of the conference’ s keynote speaker: New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. Governor Johnson is not just any ordinary Republican Governor. He has the honor of being the only governor in the United States who has openly said that marijuana should be legalized. Even the independent maverick, Jesse Ventura wouldn’t venture beyond decriminalization. For better or worse, it took a Republican to make this step. Because of his outspoken and unashamed stand on legalization and complete overhaul of drug policy, The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation sees New Mexico as a model for other states to follow.

When he first made his controversial announcement on the subject, it lit a firestorm within his state. Upon Johnson’ s announcement, he drew the attention of the Lindesmith Center, which began working with him to test policy ideas on the people of New Mexico to see how receptive they might be. Johnson said, “two years ago I’d never heard of the Lindesmith Center. I wouldn’t have imagined that New Mexico would have embraced the drug reform dialogue.” As Johnson said, speaking of the results of his stand, “in two years we went from status quo to neutral on drug policy in this state.” The next step for Johnson and the New Mexico legislature is to move from neutral to change.

That step has already been set in motion. In this year’ s legislative session the New Mexico legislature passed some significant drug policy reform bills. One of the bills that passed was a medical marijuana law that allows qualified patients who are certified by the state’s department of health to use medicinal marijuana. Another bill changed asset forfeiture laws to require a court order for property seizure and clear and convincing evidence that the property is subject to forfeiture. Other bills decriminalized possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, allows pharmacies to sell syringes without fear for criminal penalties, expansion of drug treatment funding, and restoring the right to vote to convicted felons who have completed their sentences.

Legislation also requires the state’s department of corrections to develop eligibility criteria for inmates indicated of nonviolent drug offenses for early release into reentry drug or programs for the last 18 month of their sentence.

With all this legislative activity and enormous public support for changing drug laws, as well as holding out hope for re-formers struggling in other states, New Mexico was the most appropriate location for this historical event. This event was historical because it represents the beginning of a new civil rights movement in this country. As Ethan Nadelmann, said in his introductory speech, “we are following in the steps of the civil rights movement, women’s suffrage, and the gay and lesbian rights movement. Every one of these movements was about political and social justice. We are following in that tradition and that is what unifies us all.” Nadelmann continued, “we have to recognize our place in this continuity, and continuing this movement for more freedom, rationality, and tolerance.”

Reverend Edwin Sanders compared the drug reform movement to the civil rights movement. Reverend Sanders is an African-American minister at the Metropolitan Interdenominational Church in Nashville, Tennessee. His congregation has outreach ministries in areas of substance abuse, child advocacy, sexual violence, drug harm reduction and support for people with HIV and AIDS. Reverend Sanders is a member of Religious Leaders for Just and Compassionate Drug Policy, which represents over 600 religious leaders who are taking a stand against the drug war, and using their pulpits as an opportunity to educate people about its destruction, failure and immorality.

Reverend Sanders stated, “The windows of opportunity are opening just like in 1950 when a few doors were opening and more people were starting to speak out on civil rights. The place where we stand now in this battle is the same place where the civil rights movement was in 1950.” The potential in this moment, according to Reverend Sanders, is great. “ What is happening in this room can have a transforming effect on this world. This movement can allow the United States of America to have another opportunity at living up to the ideals and principles we all hold dear that were born out of nothing less than the spirit that created us all.” Reverend Sanders says that we are all messengers and our message is “wake up! This war on drugs is immoral. Wake up! It’s unjust. Wake up! It’s dangerous” He went on to say,” It’s a war where people in power are profiteering, exploiting fear, and taking advantage of those more vulnerable people in our society. We have to wake up to the fact that we cannot continue in our racist ways, in our classist ways, in our elitist ways.”

At a press conference on the first day, Dr. Alex Wodak, a physician, president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation and President of the International Harm Reduction Association spoke to re-porters about the impact of U.S. drug policy on the rest of the world and the role of doctors in reforming drug policy. “ This may seem to Americans to be a very American struggle, but I can assure you that what happens in the U.S. certainly plays out in the rest of the world and certainly in my country.” Dr. Wodak believes that politicians are primarily the reason the drug war continues. “ The war on drugs has been a passport for politicians to get elected and re-elected. It is easier to win campaigns based on fear than science and rationality.” Wodak continued, “The cost of change occurs in the present and the benefits are delayed in the future.” Therefore, according to Wodak, most politicians are afraid to challenge current policies.

But to see change, says Wodak, we have to see this issue primarily as a health and medical issue. “Doctors have a critical role if this is to be considered a health issue. We need leadership in the medical community.”

When speaking at the conference, Governor Johnson talked about how he came to advocate marijuana legalization and drug policy reform. He said he already knew that “ the war on drugs is a failure and we need to look at alternatives—and I said to my staff that one of the alternatives is legalization. What I didn’t know at the time,” said Johnson “ was the compelling argument for legalizing marijuana. All I advocated was the legalization of marijuana and harm reduction strategies. I never dreamed at the time what a controversy that would be and the rapid changes that would follow.”

The conference covered a wide range of topics, but the sessions regarding civil rights and liberties and racial disparity seemed to strike the deepest cord in most of the participants. One such session was called “Collateral Consequences of Over-reaching Government Practices: Today’s Jim Crow.” The director of the ACLU Drug litigation Project, Graham Boyd spoke about how the war on drugs affects people of color, and he compared the current laws with those of the past. “The war on drugs is just a re-capitulation of slavery. In 1999 there were 900, 000 black men in the criminal justice system. In 1820 there were 900, 000 black men enslaved in the plantation system. By 1860 there were 1.5 million enslaved. If we continue incarceration at the current rate, we will have achieved in 17 years what it took the plantation system 40 years to reach.” Although blacks and whites use drugs at about the same rate, given that whites make up the majority population, blacks are disproportionately arrested and incarcerated. Whites make up about 72 percent of all drug users, blacks 15 percent, and Hispanics 10 percent. Yet blacks constitute 36.8 percent of those arrested for drug violations and over 42 per-cent incarcerated in federal prisons. The United States incarcerates black men at four times the rate of black men in South Africa.

Boyd continued his comparison with Jim Crow. The plantation system and Jim Crow banned black men from voting, restricted the rights of blacks to travel, exploited them for labor, and forcibly took their children away. Nearly 1.5 million black men out a total voting population of 10.4 million have lost their right to vote due to felony convictions. In Florida alone, one third of all black men cannot vote. Whereas in the days of slavery, slave patrols pre-vented escape to freedom and beat and harassed freed slaves, the new Jim Crow enforces “driving while black,” where black motorist are pulled over and their cars and persons searched for no other reason than the color of their skin. Of course, it is all done in the name of fighting drugs. And just as blacks were forced to labor without recompense, the for-profit prison system and corporations use the cost-free labor of prisoners at anywhere from 12 to 50 cents per hour. Our prison system is the new plantation slavery. Then, the children of slaves were sold away “down the river” from their parents. Now, African-Americans lose their children to the child protection agencies, whether because they themselves have been incarcerated, or be-cause they have tested positive for drugs. Even though black and white women use illicit drugs at the same rate during pregnancy, black women are 10 times more likely than white women to be reported to child welfare agencies for prenatal drug use. And the current trend is to arrest pregnant or post partum black women and charge them with child abuse and neglect, send them to prison and terminate their parental rights based on the chemical com-position of their urine.

But of all the facts and figures presented by Boyd and other speakers at this session, nothing was as frightening and gut wrenching as the story of Tulia, Texas told by Reverend Charles Kiker, a retired Baptist minister. As he told this story of injustice and racism in his hometown, the elderly, white minister’s voice shook and his eyes watered. By the time he was finished his weren’t the only wet eyes in the room. The story began in 1997 when the school district of Tulia decided to conduct random and suspicionless drug tests on its students. A couple of parents resisted and took the school district to federal court. In the meantime, the Fisher County sheriff launched an undercover drug operation. The undercover agent he hired was named Tom Coleman, who had a checkered past, involving corruption and misuse of public funds. Coleman conducted his sting operation for 18 months. In July 1999, just be-fore the court ruling on the school drug testing case was to be handed down, the mass arrests began in the little town with a population of 5, 000. Forty-three people were arrested; all but three of them black, and even those three had relationships with or had children by blacks. These 43 people were indicted for selling drugs—mostly powdered cocaine. Reverend Kiker said his wife commented as they watched the foot-age of the arrests, “if 43 people are selling drugs in Tulia, who is buying?” The operation resulted in the arrests of half the adult, black male population in Tulia, and represented 17 percent of the total black population.

And then the trials began. The juries convicted their neighbors of drug charges based solely on the word of one, corrupt white man. There was absolutely no physical or circumstantial evidence—not a wit-ness, a wiretap, confession, or any confiscated drugs. The sole witness and evidence was Tom Coleman. The first man tried was a 57-year-old pig farmer who was sentenced to 90 years. One of the three whites convicted was a mentally challenged young man who had committed no prior offenses and whose only crime seemed to be that he had fathered a mixed race child with a black woman-who was also indicted. He was sentenced to 400 years. After the first conviction, some citizens of Tulia, both black and white, became concerned and began investigating on their own and bringing national attention to the tragedy and travesty of justice in their community. But many of those arrested, frightened by the long sentences being handed down, pled guilty to crimes they did not commit.

“Earlier this morning,” Reverend Kiker said, “Ethan was talking about who we are. Well, I’m one of those abstainers. I don’t know what a joint looks like and I don’t care if I never learn. So, you might think, this guy don’t have no dog in this fight. And you’re right. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but you could say I have a whole passel of pups. I’m talking about the kids—the children of the adults who were arrested on what I call ‘operation drug entrapment. I’m talking about Jennifer, Justice, Jackson, Keara, and Kenneth and Corinne and all the other 47 children whose parents were hauled to jail. These children are now six times more likely to be incarcerated them-selves. I’m talking about children who were already poverty children who have been further impoverished. This collateral con-sequences of overreaching government practices is not exaggerated in Tulia. Tulia is not the exception. I’ve realized that the war on drugs is really a war on people, especially poor people and people of color. And it is also a war on children. I know I may not have a lot in common with many of you, but let’s work together to end the madness.” After Reverend Kiker sat down to a thundering applause, Graham Boyd added, “I think Tulia is an example of how the drug war is used as a tool to control black people.”

According to Nancy Campbell, assistant professor at Rensselaer Polytech Institute, and Lynn Paltrow, an attorney and the executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women during the session called “Women and the Drug War,” the war on drugs is not only used as a tool to control black people, it is also a tool to control women-regardless of race. Not only are pregnant women, particularly poor women, subjected to involuntary drug testing, they also stand to lose social services and even be prosecuted and incarcerated for “fetal abuse” or murder.

Nancy Campbell said that this kind of focus on female drug use began in the 1920’s around the same time that policy makers were concerned about the falling white birth rates. By focusing on “out of control” female addicts, the state acquires the power to control them, their sexuality, and when they form families and with whom. Since women, says Paltrow, are responsible for social reproduction, drug use is used as an excuse to doubt the ability of women to discharge parental duties. Fe-male drug users have always been viewed more harshly than male users, and as a result they are portrayed as “dissolute women” which the state and society equates with being “bad mothers.” As recently as the late 1980’s lawmakers were referring to the crack epidemic as a “crisis of maternal instinct.” Male addicts were and still are viewed as addicts, but females are just bad women and mothers. “ It’s really about what women are expected to do and what we do when they don’t,” said Campbell. By creating public policies that focus on individual women, society and law-makers are excused from addressing the real social issues of poverty and lack of access to healthcare, which has more to do with untreated drug addiction than any-thing else. Drug treatment slots for pregnant women and women with children are either seriously unavailable or nonexistent.

Paltrow said that no one should be punished for what they do to their body, but pregnant women have been made the exception. Although no state legislature has made it a crime to be pregnant and a drug user, 18 states have expanded their civil penalties for drug use. Those penalties usually involve termination of parental rights. “It’s not really about drugs or fetal rights, it’s really about controlling women.” Paltrow gave example of a young black woman who tested positive for drug use during labor, yet delivered a healthy baby. Her baby was taken from her and she was sentenced to eight years in prison. “Com-pare that,” Paltrow said, “to a white, middle- class woman who took fertility drugs, which produced six embryos. Although her doctors told her that trying to carry them all to term risked the lives of all six, she chose to carry them all. One of her babies dies, and she gets $30,000 and free supply of diapers. Both of them,” Paltrow continued, “took drugs during pregnancy.”

Another disturbing trend in government policies had its beginning in the 1996 welfare reform act, which had provisions al-lowing states to drug test welfare recipients. So far, only Michigan has implemented the testing. “Forcing them to pee in a cup in order to receive benefits,” said Boyd, “preys on and degrades the most vulnerable members of our society.” But Boyd thinks that probably one of the worst things about this practice is the dangerous precedent it is setting. “If welfare recipients can be tested in order to receive benefits, then any of us can be tested. What is to stop the government from requiring drug testing in order to qualify~ for SSI, student financial aid, tax credits, driving license, or any other government related benefit or service? We have to stop this right here.”

There were several retired police officers present at the conference, but Officer Joseph Feather with the Albuquerque Police Department was the only uniformed officer present. This was a detail that seemed to disturb him. “Drug reform policy is something the police need to be involved in. Police are on the cutting edge of the drug war, but unfortunately, those who support decriminalization or legalization see us as the enemy. If you talk to officers they say that the drug war is not accomplishing its purpose.”

Howard Wooldridge, a retired police officer from Texas, wore a t-shirt with the words “Cops Say Legalize Pot—Ask me Why.’ When the Free Press reporters asked him why, he said that legalizing marijuana would reduce the exposure of young people to harder drugs. The dealer they buy their marijuana from, he told us, also sells them some cocaine and heroine. “ Be-sides,” he said, “ the drug war has not re-moved a single dealer from the streets. Every time a street dealer is arrested, there is another to replace him instantly.” Wooldridge also said that adult dealers do not usually sell to kids. “It’s kids who sell to kids. Dealers recruit 14 year olds who go to school and sell to other 14 year olds and younger children. The dealers know that the consequences for kids for dealing drugs is pretty minimal and it is kids who have the most access to other kids.”

Wooldridge had this to say about the conference, “The most important thing about this conference in terms of law enforcement is education. I think the more law officers know about the drug war and the ramifications on individuals and their communities it would go a long ways to-ward helping officers understand the bigger picture as opposed to their small part in what they are doing.”

Officer Feathers seemed to disagree with officer Wooldridge on this one. “I think a lot of officers know the drug war isn’t working but don’t know what the solution is. I’m the only uniformed officer here and I’m a representative of the Albuquerque Police Department. I think a lot of the solutions presented here are too much in the opposite direction. They expect a utopian sea change to happen and that’s not going to happen. And it’s especially not going to happen without those on the cutting edge of the drug war buying into it—because there’s going to be resistance.”

“I agree that education is the key here,” Officer Wooldridge told Officer Feather and us. “I don’t think most of society ready to see drugs as a medical problem. The war on drugs is not being effective protecting our society and our children and is not keeping drugs and drug dealers away from our children. All of us need to become informed on these issues, especially moms and dads, and begin to at least start talking about it,” Wooldridge continued.

Wooldridge believes that fear is the primary reason for lack of change in drug policy. “Everyone’s afraid to even talk about change because being seen as soft on drugs is a death sentence, and this is particularly true for police officers.” When asked how the Albuquerque police feel about Governor Johnson, Officer Feather said, “Most officers like Governor Johnson and his policies in general. But I think you’ll find though, that most officers don’t think legalization is the way to go. The drug war demonizes drug users and dealers. But what I’ve seen at this conference,” he continued, “almost turns them into angels.”

Wooldridge wrapped up the joint inter-view by saying, “What you do in your own home, if it arguably doesn’t hurt anyone but yourself isn’t a situation where the police need to come knocking your door down because you’re smoking a joint.”

A session called “Race and the Drug War” was a particularly powerful one. An assertive and controversial young man, James Forman challenged everyone in the room to “move beyond their comfort zone” in their work in the drug policy reform movement. He believes that if everyone white person in the room had the experience of being the only white in a room of blacks that large, there would be more progress and understanding. He also challenged everyone to face some of the more controversial and uncomfortable issues of the drug war.” If we don’t talk about drug selling,” he said, “then we are not talking to all the black and brown brothers and sisters who are incarcerated. That’s where the long sentences come from—from drug trafficking. If we’re not willing to talk about drug selling then that is a whole entire community we’re writing off.”

Antonio Gonzales, from Texas and the president of the William Valasquez Insti-tute, spoke about the role Latino politicians and leaders have played in the drug war. Since Latino leaders were very much be-hind taking a hard line on drug use and the drug culture, they have been very silent on the consequences of the drug war. “Individuals within the Latino community are ahead of the leadership. The individuals know the drug policies are not working because it’s their families and communities that are suffering.”

Gonzales had some other observations. “ The drug war has become the new anti-communism. A generation ago, if you wanted to neutralize someone who was working for social justice and fighting for the working class and minorities then you call them a communist—and say it loudly and repeatedly and eventually they will be neutralized in mainstream politics and their ideas kick out. Today, drug-baiting has re-placed red-baiting.” Such drug baiting, he went on to tell us is being used to destroy the chances of a progressive, Latino of being elected mayor of Los Angeles. This candidate could be the first Latino elected to that office.

At the Friday, June 15th luncheon, Maxine Waters, a California member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D) gave a rousing speech that garnered her as much applause as Governor Johnson had. “ I had decided,” Representative Waters said, “some time ago that for the remainder of my time in office I’m basically going to give my public policy time and effort to the re-form of drug policy, reform of the prison system in this country, and helping to garner the resources necessary to deal with HIV/AIDS.” She made many comments about the political diversity of the conference, one of which was “We find that some times the right and the left agree and I think it is going to be this kind of coming together that is going to change drug policy.” Representative Waters expressed great admiration of Gary Johnson. “I think Governor Johnson is a man of courage. He is on the cutting edge of drug policy re-form and we should thank him for that.”

She also commended the other elected officials at the conference who have taken stands on these issues, saying, and “I know what it is like when other elected officials won’t come near an issue because their afraid that somehow they will become tainted.” Waters said she is beginning to see more elected officials beginning to ad-dress these issues and that in almost all cases it is turning out to be bi-partisan efforts. I am finding more and more friends on either side of the aisle, who want to see these laws change. I know it is lonely now, but I believe that it won’t be long until you will be seen as heroes and she-roes.”

On the final day of the conference we interviewed some attendees who were lounging in the atrium of the Hyatt Regency. “Governor Johnson has just energized our movement here. We were basically ignored until Governor Johnson brought it above the horizon,” said a grinning Bruce Bush (no relation) who is a native of New Mexico and has been involved in the cannabis movement for years. Rosalyn, who is employed by the New Mexico Department of Health said, “I’ve learned a lot. I’ve also changed my mind completely. I feel now that we need to change our policies nationally as well as locally.” A retired professor of history from California said, “my hopes are that this conference will have an impact on drug policy in this country. I don’t see why the government should be involved in what we put in our bodies.”

Three other men, Ken, Mike and Rufus were having a discussion among them and allowed us to join in. Mike is a constitutionalist professor from California who teaches political science. He was exited about being a part of the change and said he was thrilled to be at the conference. It was Ken’s first time to attend. Rufus summed up the drug war in this way, “if the drug war is a success, then it is a nation ending one.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Mike said. “I’m mortified by what the drug war is doing to the American system of government. It’s horrific. It’s a frontal assault on the American Constitution.”

Another attendee was a young man from Sacramento, California who said, “ I think the most important thing about this conference is how it shows the racial disparity of the drug war. I think that’s the most important thing to take away from here.”

At lunch that last day, Governor Johnson was presented the Richard J. Dennis Drugpeace Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Drug Policy Reform. In his acceptance speech Johnson said, “ I’ve always believed politics was high calling. I’ve been elected and given the opportunity to do good by people, which I believe public office is about. “ But I’m sure that you wouldn’t have a hard time finding 50,000 people to picket out there and swear that I have been nothing but scourge on this state,” Johnson said, laughing. “ I’ve never been in involved in politics before. This is my first political office.” When Johnson decided to first run for governor the Republican Party of New Mexico told him it was impossible for him to win the election because of his political inexperience. Undeterred, Johnson, who owned his own successful company, which he had started as a small business, decided he would pay for his own campaign. “That meant I wasn’t indebted to anyone once took office.”

Johnson tells his detractors who say he is sending the wrong message to kids, “ I say we should tell kids we love them and tell them the truth about pot, the truth about heroine. My message to my kids is don’t do any of this stuff, but if you do and you’re going to get in a car, call me and I’ll come get you—no questions asked.” In his denouncement of the drug war, Johnson said, “First of all we need to legalize marijuana.

Then we have to eliminate mandatory sentencing. We are letting violent criminals out of jail to make room for non-violent drug offenders. I say control, regulate, and tax marijuana you’ll eliminate the gateway access. But saying marijuana is a gateway drug is like saying drinking beer is going to lead to Everclear, or that drinking milk is a gateway to alcohol.” There was a roar of laughter from the crowd on this one. “ Legalize marijuana and I believe overall there will be less substance abuse.

A powerful and eloquent orator, Johnson ended his speech by saying, “I believe this country was founded on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I believe in limited government, individual responsibility and accountability and I believe in the Constitution of the United States of America. Drug prohibition is what is tearing this country apart—not drug use. This the biggest civil rights issue in the country. It is the biggest issue that will have the most positive impact on the world.”

At the conclusion of the conference we briefly interviewed Ethan Nadelmann, the director of the Lindesmith Center. Millionaire, George Soros, who is devoted to ending the drug war, largely funds the Lindesmith Center. Since the foundation has put much money and resources into achieving victories in the war, we asked him what criteria the foundation uses to determine which states to target for their assistance. He said that the center looks for three things: elected officials who are willing to support drug policy reform, polls showing that at least 60 percent of the state’s population supports the reforms, and the severity of the drug laws in that state. If the state meets the three criterions, then it receives the help it needs. The Lindesmith Center has been involved with all of the reform legislation passed over the last few years— starting with California’s Proposition 215—medical marijuana. We— the Free Press reporters asked him what he thought the chances of Arkansas be-coming one of the targeted states in the near future were. He told us that in 1997, the Center polled Arkansans on the medical marijuana issue and received only 50 percent support. “That was too low for us to take that kind of risk. But that was four years ago. I was just talking to Denele Campbell with the Alliance for the Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas, and she told me things have changed a lot since then. We might give Arkansas a chance at the poll again sometime in the future.” We asked him about the possibility of the conference being held in Little Rock, and he laughed and said, “ You wouldn’t believe the number of people who’ve been pitching me on holding it in their home town. There is a good chance, though, that we might have it somewhere in the South maybe Mobile or New Orleans but right now I just can’t say. Los Angeles is also a possibility.”

Based on that interview, it is clear that we have a lot of work to do in Arkansas, but if we accomplish some more, very soon, we will receive some significant help. One of good signs recently was the introduction of the marijuana decrim bill in the senate and it’s current status as an interim study. In just the past year, many more Arkansans are becoming better educated on the issue and much more open to change. Right now, the Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas (ARDPARK) is gathering signatures on petitions to get the medical marijuana act on the ballot. If they succeed, then the eyes of the nation will be on Arkansas.

Of all the comments made by the attendees when we interviewed them, a middle-aged man named Dormy, who owned a hemp store in Athens, Ohio, made the one that was most descriptive and gripping. “I think the symbol chosen for the conference was really important— the dove rising out of the water. That represents where the movement has been and where it’s going. We were drowning, but now it looks like we’re about to take off.” He is right, and this conference and the huge advances made in New Mexico are just more proof that he is right. As of yet, no Southern state has made any serious attempts at drug policy reform. Why can’t Arkansas be the first to rise up and take flight?

Source: Little Rock Free Press (AR)
Author: Jalisha Vandiver and Joseph Emmel
Published: June 27 - July 24, 2001
Copyright: 2001 Little Rock Free Press
Contact: freep@aristotle.net
Website: http://www.aristotle.net/FREEP

Related Articles & Web Site:

TLC - DPF
http://www.lindesmith.org/

How Governments Try and Fail To Stem Drugs
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10422.shtml

It has been like that for many years..

It is not the drug war that is most damaging to the society.
It is just the drug-free ideology that is most destructive thing ever to happen to any kind of society..

I pray that will change so ever soon. It would take some serious bushwhacking to get it done.

Just as the government imagines that it can dominate the world with smart-bombs and subjugate Colombia from helicopters, it also believes that it can subjugate Americans and continue prosecuting its drug war with technology. It knows what would happen if it were to require urine tests for driver's licenses: people, millions of them, would drive unlicensed, and widespread resentment would deliver a significant blow to the drug warriors. But oral saliva tests - that's another matter, and people might very well tolerate these two-minute purity procedures. I'd bet that's what the G has in mind. I know it. The instant results would almost be workable at the license bureau, and officials would enjoy the twisted satisfaction of parading those who failed out the door to the bus stop - sending a strong signal and clear message to all those waiting sheepishly in line to get their tests. You can be sure too of a lot of corruption: people who didn't look right would fail a lot more often than those who do at many corrupt bureaus. If the saliva tests had been available five or ten years ago, that's what would be happening already, and that's what experts and officials and authorities have in mind for all of us now. Very soon, cops are going to be carrying these little saliva test kits around with them for use along the roadside against people they don't like. You can see how the warriors have been preparing the public for acceptance of these tests by reading the hateful and factually inaccurate diatribes authored by the prohibitionist lackey Jean Wright whose articles appear on this site. In other words, even if marijuana were to be legalized, the G plans on a continuing campaign of profit and repression using the saliva tests for all the situations listed in my quote from the article above.

Try livin' down here ;-)

>....most of your world class a#*hole politicians seem to be southerners

No kidding. Asa Hutchinson really bothers me.

Some of them have. At this gathering, the ones who have awakened, who've done their homework, who've looked at the origin of the drug laws, have finally stood up. Those whose groups were specifically targeted for oppression have known for years that they were targeted. The evidence is as plain as the nose on your face. But the mechanism>/I> of the racist policies was not fully understood by them...until now.

(After all, how many of us can give a short succinct explanation as to how their cars work? You just know that it goes when you turn the key. Many minority leaders are still unaware of the origin of the very laws that are used as excuses for the systematic disenfranchisement of their peoples. All they know is that the police seem to target them more than the vast majority of the drug using population...which it doesn't require Einstein to see is White. Well, now they know why. They've got no excuses left. If they are truly 'community leaders', then let's see them lead.)

As Paul Simon in one of his songs said that this is a time of 'miracles and wonders'. We've been witness to more and more of them taking place, faster and faster.

Canada legalizing for med purposes. Great Britain experimenting in one area of London, and on the verge of honestly debating legalization for the rest of the country. The Netherlands quietly but firmly pulling out of the UNDCP...and demanding an explanation for mis-appropriated funds. Portugal practically legalizing all drugs under a certain amount for personal use. The US thrown arse-over-teakettle off of what was once it's very own bully pulpit, the UNNCB. Plan Colombia coming under attack because of the spraying. Indiginous people there are using the court system to try to stop the madness...with the threat of violence tacitly behind the demand. (Like I said once: never mess with people with nothing left to lose, as there's few things more dangerous.)

...Anyway,,this article speaks of a very positive,and significant glint of hope,,

...and no offense to all the excellent people in the south,,the North has plenty
of a#*holes too.....