cannabisnews.com: DrugSense Weekly April 21, 2000 #146





DrugSense Weekly April 21, 2000 #146
Posted by FoM on April 21, 2000 at 20:54:31 PT
Rebuttal To John Q. Wilson By Mark Greer
Source: DrugSense
Below is Mark Greer's reply to Wilson's questionable assertions. I don't know which is more disconcerting, the fact that a Pepperdine University professor would naively claim that more drug testing and coerced treatment is the cure for the drug problem or that the Wall Street Journal would print such easily refuted allegations (A New Strategy For The War On Drugs WSJ 4/13).
John Q. Wilson's ideas seem to miss a number of key points, not the least of which is that this is America which at least used to be the Land of the Free. His solution to the drug war would be to catch every drug user, test virtually everyone, and force treatment on what he refers to as "barbarians." How about this for a solution; leave those who choose to use drugs alone until and unless they break any laws that effect others or until they commit real crimes and provide treatment on demand when a drug user needs help and asks for it.Somewhere along the way in our misguided attempt to "save" people from their own free will and choice we have forgotten that it is not, and never has been, any of the governments business whether or not one chooses to use drugs. Our failure to grasp this simple Constitutional reality has resulted in a worrisome undermining of the Bill of Rights, asset forfeiture laws, mandatory minimum prison sentences, an overburdened and ineffective criminal justice system, corrupt police agencies. The Land of the Free has become the largest incarcerator of its citizens in the free world. We currently top 2 million people behind bars and the U.S. has the dubious distinction of housing more than twenty five percent of the worlds prisoners. A large percentage of these are non violent drug users.Just what exactly did our founding fathers mean by "inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?" God save us all from do-gooders like Wilson who want to save us from our own free choices even if they are bad choices.It would be interesting to know how closely allied Wilson is with the billion dollar drug testing and coerced treatment industries. He certainly sings their song. His "solutions" can only bring to mind the Nazi Germany analogy. Vilify, control, incarcerate and punish... what a country! NOTE: John Q. Wilson's recent piece in the Wall Street Journal:http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n491/a07.html proposing that mandatory drug testing and coerced treatment is the solution to our drug problem elicited scores of replies in the form of letters to the editor including outstanding replies published in the Journal by Dr. Tom O'Connell (DrugSense Newsletter editor) and Jerry Epstein (DPF-T) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n523/a08.htmlClick the link to read all of DrugSense Weekly's Update News:DrugSense Weekly April 21, 2000 #146http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2000/ds00.n146.htmlDrug War Strategy By Tom O'Connellhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n524/a08.htmlWall Street Journal Article:A New Stradegy For The War On Drugs By James Q. Wilson http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5429.shtmlCannabisNew DrugSense & MapInc. Articles & Archives:DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 169 April 14, 2000 http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5402.shtmlhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/MAP.shtmlhttp://google.com/search?lc=&num=10&q=cannabisnews+MapInc.+site:cannabisnews.comhttp://google.com/search?lc=&num=10&q=cannabisnews+DrugSense+site:cannabisnews.com
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