cannabisnews.com: Ending the War on Drugs Would Help End Violence Ending the War on Drugs Would Help End Violence Posted by FoM on April 24, 2002 at 19:58:57 PT By Clark Brittain M.D. Source: Herald-Times To counter Office of National Drug Control Policy ads blaming teens who smoke marijuana as financiers of terrorists, a recent USA Today advertisement from the Libertarian party showed America's Drug Czar, John Walters saying, "This week, I had lunch with the president, testified before Congress and helped funnel $40 million in illegal drug money to groups like the Taliban." The ad said it's the drug war that enables terrorists to raise large amounts of money. Subsequently drug war advocate Dexter Ingram of the Heritage Foundation tried to refute this argument: "Like it or not, drug-users in America do help finance the terrorists who attack us. The sellers rely on volume for their profits; as long as we continue to purchase and use in bulk, they can count on steady and expanding profits as far as the eye can see."There is another way to view the situation. Harry Browne, financial consultant and Libertarian presidential candidate in 2000, asks, "If a large volume for a product is sufficient to finance terrorism, why don't terrorists raise money by selling computers or aspirin or a food product?"He answers: "Those products generate very small profits per sale, while drug profits are astronomical. Whenever the profits in computers, aspirin or food increase, the supply of the item expands — pushing prices and profits back again to levels similar to those of other products."Why are illicit drug profits astronomical? Only because they are illegal. If drugs were legal, if Smith Kline, Eli Lilly or Wyeth-Ayerst could sell such drugs — prices would be so low that the profit would be no larger than in computers or food. So how could the terrorists make big money in such a business?Answer: The black market in drugs. When the government interferes with a product in wide demand — through price controls or outright prohibition — a "black market" develops. A black market is a free market existing in defiance of the government. Because it's illegal, a black market attracts only people willing to defy the government and risk going to prison. Since they're already outside the law, these people generally are quite willing to use violence to keep competitors out of their markets. The violence-imposed monopolies cause prices and profits to be much higher than those in a legal, free market.So the drug war creates a logical way for terrorists to raise money. The drug war also encourages corruption — as some of the oversized profits subvert policemen, prosecutors, politicians, bankers and judges who will look the other way. Trying to stamp out a popular product is like trying to hold back the tides. And so prohibition inevitably leads to more aggressive law-enforcement, violations of civil liberties, police raids that kill the wrong people, civil asset forfeiture, and sentences way out of proportion to the "crimes" committed.Thus government interference in drugs leads easily to violence, the killing of innocent people, corruption, tyranny and injustice.That's what happened with alcohol prohibition in the 1920s. That's what's happening with drug prohibition today.The drug warriors try to scare us by pointing to conditions in today's illegal market and claiming they'd be even worse in a legal market: "If you think drugs are a problem now, imagine if they were legal — with pushers on every street corner harassing your children." But when drugs were completely legal in America, there were no pushers. When people could go to the drugstore and buy Bayer heroin off the shelf in a safe, measure dosage (for pain relief, as a sedative or because of an addiction), the price was so low that no pusher could succeed selling drugs of unknown origin on the street.If you haven't studied the history of drugs to be aware of how much safer (and less often abused) they were when completely legal, I can understand why you're afraid of re-legalizing them. Addiction rates today are about four times greater with prohibition than when all drugs were available legally.You should know that the government uses self-serving propaganda to expand its own power. As the saying goes, "truth is the first casualty of war." That applies to the war on drugs and, yes, the war on terrorism.If you want to end the dangers of drugs, the violence, corruption, tyranny and injustice, we have to end the insane war on drugs.Do the terrorists sell drugs to finance their operations? I don't know. But I can be pretty sure of one thing: Terrorists are not selling computers, aspirin or food to finance their operations.This guest column was written by Clark Brittain, a physician from Bloomington.Complete Title: Ending the War on Drugs Would Help End Related Violence and CorruptionSource: Herald-Times, The (IN)Author: Clark Brittain M.D.Published: April 24, 2002 Copyright: 2002 The Hearld-TimesContact: letters heraldt.comWebsite: http://www.hoosiertimes.com/Related Articles:Media Literacy and Anti-Drug Education http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12503.shtmlU.S. Continues Down Wrong Path Regarding Drugshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11701.shtmlBust the Boom for Drug War Hypocrisy http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11125.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #12 posted by kaptinemo on April 25, 2002 at 12:01:32 PT: sorry, cut myself off To finish:Mr. Weiner's continual spouting of disreputable 'facts' is a perfect example of the seeming truth of this condition afflicting those 'in charge'. If anything, it only bolsters the impression that it is imperative to vote out these dinosaurs at the earliest opportunity... [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by kaptinemo on April 25, 2002 at 11:24:52 PT: Why anti brains seem to suffer from perpetual mental vapor lock:PROGRESSIVE REVIEW THE AUTISTIC CONFEDERACY by Sam Smith http://prorev.com/autistic.htmFrom the article:Key to the Asperger style of politics and media is the constant repetition of thought patterns and the imperviousness of the practitioners' thinking to outside fact or argument. The technical name for this is perseveration which has been defined as "the persistent repetition of a response after cessation of the causative stimuli; for example, the repetition of a correct answer to one question as the answer to succeeding questions," an almost perfect description of what regularly occurs on your average Sunday talk show. A less technical but even more generally apt definition is "continuation of something usually to an exceptional degree or beyond a desired point."I truly believe that antis are suffering from some sort of functional mental illness; they actually do believe that any person with a functioning cerebral cortex is going to swallow their bilge with nary a cocked eyebrow at its' improbability. And they do seem to believe that constant repetition of their increasingly threadbare mythos of cannabis as a 'dangerous drug' will somehow reduce it's accellerating unravelling.I've said it before; and I'll say it again: These people would be pitiful if they weren't so dangerous.Mr. Weiner's continual spouting of disreputable 'facts' is a perfect example of the [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Lehder on April 25, 2002 at 07:31:45 PT oh, yeah... At one point Maher challenged the sense of putting mj users into jails. Weiner's response was that mj has been de facto decriminalized throughout the country. Well, he really should have been pressed on this point and asked if he approved of this "decriminalization," and, if so, then how about decriminalizing it IN facto, bubblehead. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by boppy on April 25, 2002 at 06:53:04 PT It's Bloomington, Indiana Hey Sam, go easy on the Hoosier state in regards to Bloomington, anyway. It's home to Indiana University and is maybe more culturally diverse than any city or town in Indiana, including Indianapolis. Norml is very active there. My twin daughters will graduate from IU in a few weeks. I'll miss traveling there as I have the last 4 years. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Lehder on April 25, 2002 at 06:49:34 PT PI Show I stayed up waaaay beyond my bedtime, FoM, just to get a look at you, but I sure did not see anyone whom I thought could be you or JR Bob!Weiner, miserably, kept harping that drug use had been reduced by half over the last some odd years, implicitly using this claim as reason to promote a powerful and continuing drug war. Maher disputed this point, even calling it stupid. But I was disappointed. I would liked to have seen someone ask Weiner what differences in policy he would support were it his contention that drug use had doubled instead. The point should have been made that no matter what the results of the drug war, they are used as reason for maintaining and intensifying the drug war.Maher made a few good points, challenging Weiner's statistics and stale fallacies, but he disappointed me by supporting forced drug testing of children - because they are children. Kids are far too repressed in school already. There seemed unanimous agreement that kids who are not taking part in lots of extra-curricular activities don't have enough to do and are the ones likely to be "on drugs." This is an abusive attitude and absolutely uncalled for.When I was high school age, I could not wait to get out of the building and away from the abusive and ignorant teachers, their fascist system of corporal punishment and their insipid, worthless books. I used my spare time, in part, to teach myself mathematics and to read literature to way beyond any level ever reached by the teachers. This is nothing special - in a better system it would be the norm - and millions of kids are just the same and cannot wait each day to get out of the schools and make some constructive use of their time. And there are better things for kids to do than butt heads on a field, blow horns or give canned national honor society speeches to their classmates about their own virtues. I participated in very few school activities; Bill Maher is childless.ANd what about the 7% of children who, as we read a week or so ago, are simply incapable of producing a urine sample while under duress? Are they to be bullied and insulted and ignorantly forced to drink endless pitchers of water during three and four hour sessions of attempted urination? And what about the trauma that's inflicted on kids just by their having to dread and anticipate each day these surprise demands for urine. There's way too much pressure on kids already these days; they should be respected and not punished simply for being kids. If your kids are stupid, unruly and incorrigible then you probably made them that way. Shame on you. And of course the discussion would have been carried way out in left field somewhere without the presence of a comedian to remind us that the drug war is really just a little joke. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on April 24, 2002 at 22:24:27 PT Transcripts will be on this link soon Soberstoner I'm sorry you weren't able to get the program. I would be contacting my local cable and tell them you want PI back on. You miss some great programs and they don't want you all to see them in D.C.MikeEEEEE it was good wasn't it?Bob Weiner didn't have a clue. He said we have to draw the line somewhere but where should the line be drawn?Bill forgot when he said to drug test children that what will you do to a child who tests hot then? Jail? That will surely make them live in away that isn't productive for themselves or society because what option would they have but get into drugs deeper? Just to survive!http://abc.abcnews.go.com/primetime/politicallyincorrect/index.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by BGreen on April 24, 2002 at 22:17:13 PT Censorship My local ABC station played an episode of the Drew Carey Show instead of PI.I'm livid. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by SoberStoner on April 24, 2002 at 22:07:00 PT: Someone please post a transcript I live in the DC area and could not watch it because i cant get channel 2. And WJLA will be recieving a phone call from me about it tomorrow as well.Someone please post a trascript or a live to a video fedd of it. I really want to see or read what happened.SS [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by MikeEEEEE on April 24, 2002 at 21:46:09 PT FoM I watched PI tonight and the drug strategist from the government looked really stupid. The audience kept laughing at him. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Prime on April 24, 2002 at 21:40:43 PT The Ultimate Question. I like to ask this this logic question of the pro-prohibition people I know."If heroin were legal tomorrow, would you go out and start shooting up?"Typical Answer: "No, of course not."My reply: "So you just assume that the rest of us are just to stupid to make the same choice?"Nullify The Jury... undo unjust laws...http://www.erowid.org/freedom/jury_nullification/jury_nullification.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 24, 2002 at 20:45:41 PT Friendly Reminder! Try No To Miss PI Tonight! Friends, If you're up late tonight (or know how to program a VCR) you can see me on Politically Incorrect. I'll be debating Bob Weiner (former Drug Czar McCaffrey's spokesperson), actress Rachael Leigh Cook (who did the ONDCP ad swinging they frying pan a few years ago), and comedian Steve Marmel. The entire show is devoted to the drug war. Check your local listings for times or go to http://abc.abcnews.go.com/primetime/politicallyincorrect/index.html for more info. A transcript should be posted there later this week. Cheers, Sanho PS--If you live in Washington, DC, you won't be able to see it because the local affiliate dropped the show after Bill Maher said something politically incorrect after 9/11, but you can call WJLA at 202-364-7777 to register your disgust with their cowardly censorship. You might be able to pick up the shown the Baltimore affiliate WMAR which broadcasts on Channel 2 at 12:05am. ************************************************************** Sanho Tree 202/234-9382 ext. 266 (voice) Fellow, Drug Policy Project 202/387-7915 (fax) Institute for Policy Studies 202/494-8004 (mobile) 733 15th St., NW, #1020 email: stree igc.org Washington, DC 20005 http://www.ips-dc.org ************************************************************** Organization: November Coalition http://www.november.org/ November Members - If you've never seen Sanho Tree in action, you should stay up late tonight - Wednesday - to watch him on ABC's "Politically Incorrect", hosted by Bill Maher. Sanho is a valuable and trusted advisor to The November Coalition. His expertise is anti-drug policy, especially the international aspects, especially South America. He is based at at the Institute of Policy Studies -- http://www.ips.org -- the organization that recognized Nora in late 2000 with their annual Letelier-Moffitt award for 'domestic' social activism. She is at http://www.ips-dc.org/lm-awards/2000/lm2000.htm. IPS is at http://www.ips-dc.org/index.htm and Sanho's page at IPS is http://www.ips-dc.org/projects/drugpolicy.htm JohnChase Regional Volunteer Tampa Bay http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread12621.shtml#12 [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on April 24, 2002 at 20:09:27 PT Great one! Damn! a doctor in Indiana? They're going to kick this guy off the farm!Jeb! get the truck! Get Ma! We gonna git ourself a docter! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment