cannabisnews.com: Develop Sensible Drug Policy





Develop Sensible Drug Policy
Posted by FoM on June 21, 2000 at 08:20:55 PT
Letter To The Editor By Jim Beattie
Source: Arizona Daily Star
I recently received a newsletter in the mail from the Pima County Sheriff's Department, called "Community Connection." It dealt with an initiative slated for the November ballot, called "The Drug Initiative 2000," which makes the use of marijuana more of a personal or medical issue, rather than a law enforcement issue. The focus of the newsletter was to offer blatant propaganda against this rational initiative. I am displeased my tax money is being used in this politically motivated propaganda campaign. 
What gives the Sheriff's Department the right to spend our money in this fashion? Why do legislators and law enforcement officials believe they are better able to make medical decisions related to drug prescribing than doctors? Why should someone who will benefit from the medical use of marijuana suffer on account of some uneducated lawmaker's "tough-on-crime" posturing? I am in favor of any initiative that would decriminalize marijuana, which is far less harmful than "legal" drugs, like alcohol and tobacco. Most illegal drugs need to be decriminalized. Incarcerating for possession and sale of drugs is costing this country billions of dollars annually, yet street drugs are every bit as available as they ever were. Drug use or drug addiction is simply a vice, not a crime. A society cannot effectively legislate against a vice. America's 80-year attempt to control drugs (since the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1916) has failed in every respect, other than to promote a huge, multi-billion dollar "Prison Industrial Complex" and visit untold misery upon inmates and their families. Drug use has to be dealt with, but a policy needs to be developed that is not based on hysteria (what we currently have), but upon sound medical and sociological research. Jim Beattie Published: June 21, 2000Copyright: Arizona Daily StarRelated Articles:Lawyer Ready for Ballot Fight on Legalized Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5929.shtmlArizona Drug Backers Bow Outhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5911.shtmlMedical Pot Back as Ballot Initiativehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread3274.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by ... on June 21, 2000 at 16:39:06 PT
"We don't make laws, we just enforce them"
Remember when the statement "we don't make the laws, we just enforce them" was a standard rationalization for cops when they busted kids smoking pot?Well, now they've got a vested interest in keeping those bad laws on the books. How else can you keep the police welfare state going? It's so much easier to go after peaceful non-violent cannabis users who are growing weed in their houses than to go after criminals. Heck, police departments get to seize their houses, cars, computers, and cash in bank accounts by merely inviting in the DEA on the "raid". No wonder the Pima County Sheriff's department is lobbying against any change in this lucrative revenue stream....and no wonder the federal government is fighting any attempt to change these bad cannabis laws across the country, tooth and nail. It's all about money. Justice is a pesky philosophical issue for wimps who want to coddle the criminal, dontcha know...
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Comment #3 posted by dankhank on June 21, 2000 at 10:53:29 PT:
Get Hot
It's time to find out if the sheriff can legally so that.Find a sympathetic lawyer, or failing that, one that offers a free initial consult.See if a suit against the sheriff can be instituted.Law Enforcement has no business trying to formulate law. They are too biased.  When was the last time you heard a cop say that there is a bad law that needs to be striken from the books?Even the old laws we laughed about, such as the "ugly" law or the one that was recently repealed in Ohio that said that an automoble must be preceded through town by a man walking waving a lantern. These laws and many more were on the books for many more years than appropriate or needed, yet NO law enforcement individual EVER said, "Hey! We got a bad law here, let's get rid of it."Ipso Facto, if law enforcement can't apparently recognise a bad law, how do we know they can recognise a good one?It's not there business to try to make law, their job is to enforce the will of the people.Law Enforcement. Shut UP!! We want you to shut up.Shut up and do what you're told.Peace.
HEMP n STUFF
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on June 21, 2000 at 09:35:49 PT
Welcome To CannabisNews
Welcome OutLaw!I am glad you checked in here too! You are right. Drug abuse is a medical problem not a criminal one I believe. We have good people here! C News is about a year and a half old and has a wonderful bunch of people with different views that comment. Very good people!Peace, FoM!
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Comment #1 posted by OutLaw on June 21, 2000 at 09:20:24 PT
Drugs not a criminal problem.
The sooner the American People come to realize that they have been duped by the Government for all these years and that Drugs are not a criminal issue but a health issue,the sooner we can get this thing over with.Hi FoM,Just wanted to see how it felt to post over here.AHH! that felt good.
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