cannabisnews.com: Letter: War on Drugs a War on People 





Letter: War on Drugs a War on People 
Posted by FoM on May 25, 2000 at 08:46:09 PT
Opinion By Terry Davis
Source: Chico-Enterprise 
The war on drugs is not a war on drugs. It is a war on people. It is a war on the entire younger generation. They are part of a generation who used drugs early in life and who tried many different kinds. It is part of the culture for all those who do not use drugs as well as those who do. 
The lives of those who do not use drugs are closely intertwined with those who do by all kinds of social and family relationships. They are all affected by that war. Please stop that war. Stop making criminals and accomplices of an entire generation. They are just our children and nieces and nephews and grandchildren and neighbors - they work at a fast food place or an oil changer, a warehouse, as waitresses and accountants; they go to school. Just legalize the drugs. Don't worry that some drugs are worse or better than others. Don't worry about abuse. That is happening now and will continue whether drugs are legal or not. We might have a chance of dealing with those very real personal problems. But we have to deal with them as personal problems, not criminal problems. Criminalizing so many people over such personal issues is not helpful. So please, just legalize the drugs. Deal with people as people, that's all. Whether a person abuses alcohol or cocaine may be less important than how we react to the legality or non-legality of the drug. Treating either group as criminals does not work. - Terry Davis, Chico CannabisNews Articles On The War On Drugs:http://alltheweb.com/cgi-bin/search?type=all&query=cannabisnews+war+on+drugs
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on May 25, 2000 at 11:28:11 PT
Well said
Schmeff well said! I am not good with words but I know good words when I read them! Thank You!
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Comment #1 posted by Schmeff on May 25, 2000 at 10:59:22 PT:
Free Market Ideology
"Just legalize the drugs. Don't worry that some drugs are worse or better than others."Exactly. In our capitalist system, we rely on free markets to weed out the good from the bad. Why do we refuse to allow a free market in ideology?People are not naturally self destructive. If drugs are as evil and destructive as prohibitionist propagandists would have us believe, why "subsdize" the evil by imposing further destructive criminal sanctions? Why not let the free market system determine what is good and evil?The best advertisement for the dark side of drug abuse would be if our children had to step around heroin addicts on the street. Instead, our policies warehouse or incarcerate these "role models" for what we seek to avoid, and thus the very real dangers of drug abuse remain largely theoretical in the minds of our children."We the People" are actually smart enough to embrace the good and reject the bad aspects of our drug habits without the need for governmental intervention into these very personal areas of our lives. As a child of the 60's and 70's, I have personal experience that the vast majority of drug use in our country is done discreetly and responsibly.We do not require that everyone walk because a few use automobiles in a reckless manner. Nor should we imprison society because a small percentage abuses freedom.
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