cannabisnews.com: One Governor Against Drug War 










  One Governor Against Drug War 

Posted by FoM on January 26, 2001 at 07:59:00 PT
By Thom Marshall  
Source: Houston Chronicle  

The drug war debate still is up in the air. If you missed the initial discussion about it, here is what happened: Someone who holds a powerful position in waging the drug war challenged me to debate. But when I called to accept he said he sent the challenge before clearing it with his superiors, so he wasn't prepared to accept my acceptance. 
The letter was on plain paper instead of official stationery. And I know that in some lines of work it can be pretty uncomfortable if you write something your bosses don't like, so I haven't mentioned the challenger's name or job title. But on Thursday he said his debate request cleared his Houston bosses and will next travel to Washington for top-level consideration. While waiting, I'm pondering who I'd like to invite to be team members. (One of my terms for accepting the challenge was that we each would form a four-man team.) It is difficult because so many impressive people are speaking out against the drug war. But among the first to come to mind is New Mexico Gov. Gary E. Johnson. He is excellent at explaining that if you oppose the drug war it does not mean you approve of drugs. Against Drugs and Jail for Them:He has a piece titled "It's Time to Legalize Drugs" included in a book recently published by Cato Institute: After Prohibition / An Adult Approach to Drug Policies in the 21st Century, edited by Timothy Lynch. Johnson wrote that people sometimes say to him, "Governor, I am absolutely opposed to your stand on drugs." And his response to that comment is to ask, "You're for drugs; you want to see kids use drugs?" Johnson is emphatic: "I'm not pro-drug. I'm against drugs. Don't do drugs. Drugs are a real handicap. Don't do alcohol. Don't do tobacco. They are a real handicap." But he does not believe people should go to jail for doing drugs. And people often ask him what to tell kids about that. "Well, you tell them the truth; that's what you tell them. You tell them that by legalizing drugs, we can control them, regulate them and tax them. If we legalize drugs we might have a healthier society. And you explain to them how that might take place. But you tell them that drugs are a bad choice. Don't do drugs. But if you do drugs, we're not going to throw you in jail for that." He points out that legalization should come with a set of laws: "Let's say you can't do drugs if you're under 21 years of age. You can't sell drugs to kids. I say employers should be able to conduct drug tests, and they should not have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Do drugs, and do crime? Make it like a gun. Enhance the penalty for the crime in the same way we do today with guns. Do drugs and drive? There should be a law similar to the law we have now for driving under the influence of alcohol." Politicians Way Behind Public:Something particularly interesting that Johnson has noticed since he began speaking out against the WOD is how far politicians are lagging behind the turnaround in public sentiment. "Politically, this is a zero," he wrote. "Politically, for anybody holding office, for anybody that aspires to hold office, for anybody who's held office, or for anybody who has a job associated with politics, this is verboten." So it's likely President W won't ask Johnson to be the nation's new drug czar, even though Johnson is a Republican and has said he and W are friends. On the other hand, Johnson called the response from the public "absolutely overwhelming." He said about 97 percent of the citizens who come up to him and comment on the drug war approve of his stand. "This has been unbelievable," he said. "To give you one example: Two elderly ladies came up to my table during dinner the other night, Gertrude and Mabel. They said, `We're teachers, and we just think your school voucher idea sucks. But your position on the war on drugs ... Right on! Right on!" Today's space is exhausted. We'll look at some other qualified debaters another time. Thom Marshall's e-mail address is: thom.marshall chron.comSource: Houston Chronicle (TX)Author: Thom MarshallPublished: January 23, 2001Copyright: 2001 Houston ChronicleAddress: Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260, Houston, Texas 77210-4260Fax: (713) 220-3575Contact: viewpoints chron.comWebsite: http://www.chron.com/Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.htmlRelated Article:Drug War Debate Challenge Accepted http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8435.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Governor Gary Johnsonhttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=gary+johnson

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Comment #10 posted by observer on January 27, 2001 at 10:45:57 PT
''The Children''
The drug war is not about protecting adults. It's about protecting children.Old propaganda theme. Check out this Anti-Saloon League poster:"The SALOON OR the BOYS and GIRLS"http://www.wpl.lib.oh.us/AntiSaloon/graphics/saloon.gifmore: http://www.wpl.lib.oh.us/AntiSaloon/print/  You can see where the Carrie Nations and the Joyce Nalepkas of the world get their propaganda themes. 
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Comment #9 posted by Lehder on January 27, 2001 at 10:15:41 PT
from page 2:
The state of Texas alone — where George W. Bush is [was] Governor — locks up about 15,000 people each year for drug offenses. One recent study by the Texas Justice Policy Council found that 64% percent of those convicted of cocaine possession in Texas were holding less than *half a gram.* ... Do the math, and George Bush, in his term as Governor of the state of Texas, has presided over the felony imprisonment of roughly 10,000 people for precisely the same activity that he is now increasingly hinting he engaged in himself.http://www.cia.com.au/serendipity/wod/wod_lynx.html
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Comment #8 posted by Lehder on January 27, 2001 at 10:03:26 PT
More Truth
Here is a great web page about the "war on drugs":http://www.cia.com.au/serendipity/wod.htmlSome excerpts:In August [2000], the U.S. Department of Justice revealed that the number of men and women behind bars in the U.S. at the end of 1999 exceeded two million and the rate of incarceration had reached 690 inmates per 100,000 residents — a rate Human Rights Watch believed to be the highest in the world (with the exception of Rwanda). ... The unrelenting war on drugs continued to pull hundreds of thousands of drug offenders into the criminal justice system: 1,559,100 people were arrested on drug charges in 1998; approximately 450,000 drug offenders were confined in jails and prisons. According to the Department of Justice, 107,000 people were sent to state prison on drug charges in 1998, representing 30.8 percent of all new state admissions. Drug offenders constituted 57.8 percent of all federal inmates. — Human Rights Watch World Report 2001: United States.The real problem with drugs in the modern world is that they are illegal. Put simply, the Drug War exists primarily to support — financially and otherwise — the maintenance of the criminal status of the possession of (certain) drugs so that those (mostly on the payroll of the U.S. federal government) who profit big — directly or indirectly — from the supply of prohibited drugs can continue to do so, at the expense of everyone else, and especially at the expense of the hundreds of thousands of people imprisoned for victimless "crimes". This is a scandal and a disgrace of the first magnitude. It will become for the United States of America a source of enduring shame and infamy just as the Third Reich became for Germany.The Drug War cannot stand the light of day. It will collapse as quickly as the Vietnam War, as soon as people find out what's really going on. — Joseph McNamara, former Police Chief, Kansas City and San Jose, and Fellow, Hoover Institution We must understand that the War on Drugs is a real war, one in which neither side will ever be able to bring the other to unconditional surrender. No lasting peace can ever come from the will of one side alone. This war will end as all intractable wars do, when the parties are sick of bloodshed. There must be a formal cease-fire, to be followed by peace talks. Let all the diplomatic protocols apply, just as if the enemy were not ourselves. The silence wrought by the "Just Say No" campaign must be replaced by words, many, many words. And those words must come not only from police, doctors, sociologists, criminologists, and the usual experts, but from gang members, drug users, drug dealers, and underground manufacturers. — On Drugs (1995), pp.200-201.Read on.
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Comment #7 posted by Lehder on January 27, 2001 at 08:54:28 PT
Welcome to cannabisnews, Mary Friend
Glad to see you here.>The facts are: people are not going to jail for using or possessing small amounts of pot.You are misinformed, Mary.The facts in Nevada are:Enacted 27 years ago, the current law makes it a felony to possess even a single pot seed. Penalties for a first-timer can be fines of up to $5,000 and one to four years in prison. [Federal law also permits houses, cars and money to be seized for even these amounts. -obs] The second time, it's up to 10 years. And if you're caught a third time, think of it this way: three squares a day, conjugal visits for good behavior and drab garb for up to 20 years. http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread6470.shtml (July 2000)If you really think that people are not going to prison for possession of small amounts of marijuana or drugs, and if you claim that this reflects positively on the drug war which you support, then let's modify the law to conform with your views: Let the new law say, "No one goes to prison for possession of small quantities of marijuana."Would you agree to this? We can fight over the 3 1/2 tons later.Here's another example of how people are being jailed for possession of miniscule amounts of "controlled substances":http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/3/thread374.shtmlThe letter shows how people are not only being imprisoned for possession of small amounts, but how the drug war destroys friendships and families. We have become like our former enemy, the Soviet Union. One of the drug war's tactics is to atomize society by setting friend against friend, child against parent. "Secret police", some of whom may belong - unknown to you - to your own family, cripple the possibility for open discussion. This is not liberty. This is not American.>They don't seem to think about the children being abused by drug users, crack babies born addicted and deserted, children failing in school because their stoned parents are not help to them....Mary's opinion. Now the facts:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/7/thread7228.shtml"Women in labor are also shackled during transport to hospital and after the baby is born," she wrote, citing one case in which the woman remained shackled during delivery. -- http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/1/thread1112.shtml7When a woman is shackled during labor, and separated from her baby and within minutes of giving birth - that is not abandonment.The *fact* is that America has 2.5 million orphaned children, orphaned not because their parents have abandoned them, but because their parents are in jail. It is the nature of the drug war to create its own "truth". If drug warriors tell you that "drugs destroy lives" then they will destroy your life. If they tell you that parents in possession of drugs abandon their children, then they will imprison the parents. That's how it works. Keep comin' back, Mary.
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Comment #6 posted by observer on January 27, 2001 at 08:05:21 PT
Nalepka (1)
Comrade Nalepka ( http://www.americacares.org ) writes:Governor Johnson's Misguided Ideas About Pot Governor Johnson and many other "adults" are confused about the drug war. Gov Johnson isn't the one spreading lies about marijuana like you do, Joyce. He's cut right through your mininformation and honed in on the essential issues: JAIL. The facts are: people are not going to jail for using or possessing small amounts of pot. Oh, I see, Joyce. If no one is going to jail for using pot, then why do the hard-core drug warriors and prohibitionist idealogues (like you, Joyce, like you) scream bloody murder if that is formalized into the law? Why do the Nalepkas squeal like stuck porcine quadrapeds if people even talk abut changing the law to not lock up cannabis users? Because they are being locked up, that's why. You're lying, Joyce. War Against Marijuana ConsumersThe War Against Marijuana IntensifiesOur country's war on drugs places great emphasis on arresting people for smoking marijuana. During President Clinton's administration, A total of 3,470,545 Americans have been arrested for marijuana offenses. In 1997 alone, state and local law enforcement arrested 695,200 people for marijuana violations. This is almost double the number of arrests recorded in 1993, the year President Bill Clinton took office. The 1997 yearly arrest total for marijuana violations, 695,200, is the highest ever recorded by the FBI.Of the 682,885 marijuana arrests in 1998, approximately 88% (600,938) were for simple possession. The remaining 12% (81,947) were for "sale/manufacture", an FBI category which includes marijuana grown for personal use or purely medical purposes. These new FBI statistics indicate that one marijuana smoker is arrested every 52 seconds in America. http://www.norml.org/legal/index.shtml There were over 650,000 arrests for marijuana possession last year. If what you say is true, I'm sure you'll want to join with me in calling for an end to these arrests. Right, Joyce? The average amount of pot federal prisoners have been charged with is 3 1/2 TONS. Teaching "How to Lie With Statistics, 101" today, Ms Nalepka?Reefer Madness http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/crime/reefm.htm (1997) In 1995, the most recent year for which the federal government has arrest statistics, law enforcement charged almost 600,000 Americans with marijuana violations [21]. This figure is the greatest number ever recorded since marijuana prohibition began; it means that one marijuana smoker is arrested every 54 seconds in America. Despite criticism that President Clinton is "soft" on drugs, annual data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Uniform Crime Report demonstrate that Clinton administration officials are waging a more intensivewar on marijuana smokers than any other presidency in history. Law enforcement arrested approximately 1.5 million Americans on marijuana charges during the first three years of Clinton's administration -- 84 percent of them for simple possession. The average number of yearly marijuana arrests under Clinton (483,548) is 30 percent higher than under the Bush administration (338,998), and last year's total alone is more than double the 1991 total (287,850) [22]. Marijuana penalties vary nationwide, but most levy a heavy financial and social impact for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who are arrestedeach year. In 42 states, possession of any amount of marijuana is punishable by incarceration and/or a significant fine [23]. For example, individuals arrested for simple marijuana possession in Arizona may face eighteen months in jail and a $150,000 fine [24]. Many states also have laws automatically suspending the drivers' license of an individual if they are convicted of any marijuana offense, even if the offense was not driving related.STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS: MARIJUANA PROHIBITION 1937 -- 1997 http://www.drugsense.org/jnr/stillcrz.htm The drug war is not about protecting adults. It's about protecting children. A false dichotomy, thought up by a propaganda-soaked mind. A perpetual excuse and pretext to steal ever more traditional rights from adults, under the guise of "the children." Those children will grow up, and they shall curse your name, Joyce Nalpeka, for the traditional freedoms your ilk have stolen from them. Adult users appear worried only about their own freedom to get stoned. Thats another Nalepka lie of course. Adult users want to live their lives like adults users of alcohol and tobacco. They want their children to grow up to be free adults, not jailbirds and not "drug-free" Just-Followink-Ze-Ordezz police state automatons. they want children that can think for themselves, who will question authority.Prohibitionists like you, Nalepka, appear to be concerned about preserving and enhancing government power to jail adults, using "the children" as a pretext for ever more police power.If the "drug war is not about protecting adults", then I'm sure you'll want to join with me in not applying drug laws to responsible adults? You'll want to join with me in repealing marijuana laws as they apply to adults? Your self-serving assertions don't pass the straight face test, Joyce. They don't seem to think about the children being abused by drug users, Child abusers abuse children, Joyce. Drug users (people who smoke tobacco or drink alcohol responsibly or use marijuana responsibly) do not ipso facto "abuse" anything.
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Comment #5 posted by observer on January 27, 2001 at 08:04:07 PT
Nalepka (2)
 crack babies born addicted and deserted, re: "crack babies"see:The Myth Of The 'Crack Baby' (Oct 98) http://www.familywatch.org/library/cbmyth.htmResearchers debunk the Myth of the 'Crack Baby' http://www.uncg.edu/edu/ericcass/substnce/docs/crakbaby.htmSCIENTIFIC REEXAMINATION: "CRACK-BABY" A MYTH http://sites.netscape.net/ejpagel/drug-war/crackbabymyth.htmThe "Crack Baby" Myth http://sterling.holycross.edu/departments/socant/goldstein/cocasite/kellyford/kellyford.htmlThank for shedding yet more light on your credibility, Ms Nalepka. Survival of the Culture is Pictured as Dependent on Prohibition or Continued Prohibition of the Drug Implicit in the attribution of society's problems to the use of particular chemicals is the assumption and implication that these problems will disappear as prohibition becomes effective The elimination of the drug and its use is thus characterized as crucial for the survival of the culture. Such claim have been characteristic of nearly all prohibitionist movements. For example, the following editorial warning appeared in the New York Times on June 28, 1884: The decadence of Spain began when the Spaniards adopted cigarettes, and if this pernicious practice obtains among adult Americans the Ruin of the Republic is at hand. 31 Purley Baker writing in the Anti-Saloon League Yearbook of 1914 implores: "If our Republic is to be saved, the liquor traffic must be destroyed,"32 and Henry Ford speaking in support of alcohol prohibition stated the following in 1928: If the law were changed, we'd have to shut down our plants. Everything in the United States is keyed up to a new pace which started with Prohibition. The speed at which we run our motor cars, operate our intricate machinery, and generally live, would be impossible with liquor. No, there is no chance even for modification. 33 Themes In Chemical Prohibition, NIDA, 1979http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/ticp.html Right, Joyce. "Survival of the Culture is Pictured as Dependent on Prohibition or Continued Prohibition of the Drug" -- children failing in school because their stoned parents are not help to them, many can't hold jobs to feed, clothe and house their children so all live on the streets or in homeless shelters. (Note: since prohibition doesn't, can't, and will never work, people presently can buy all the drugs they care to buy. Society isn't falling apart and America isn't on the brink of "devastation" and "disaster" from the "plague" and "scourge" of drugs.) Meanwhile the general community is wondering why the schools are working. Government schools underperform private schools for a variety for reasons. One reason is the prison-warder mindset that infuses bureaucrats who work in the government school system.seeDumbing Us Down : The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/086571231X/ Get a life Governor Johnson. You're hanging out with the wrong crowd.Oh how hip, Joyce! You said "get a life"! That's such a modern and "now" little phrase, isn't it Joyce? Surely the "kids" will see how cool and hip you are, Ms Nalepka.Governor Johnson is to be commended for having the guts to speak out against the idealogues like you, Joyce. It wasn't easy for people in Nazi Germany to speak out against the persecution of Jews, either. Anyone Questioning Any of the Above Assumptions is Bitterly Attacked and Characterized as Part of the Problem That Needs to be Eliminated A reading of any number of works which trace the development and evolution of our narcotics policy, all demonstrate the personal hazards in challenging those policies. To attack or challenge existing policies has opened one up for charges ranging from a lack of patriotism to charges that the critic is himself part of the international drug conspiracy. To most persons, confronting the issues surrounding the inadequacies of existing drug policy is simply not worth the challenges to their own personal integrity.Themes In Chemical Prohibition, NIDA, 1979http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/ticp.html Nalepka once again mounts a textbook attack on traditional American freedoms. What's new?
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Comment #4 posted by curendero on January 27, 2001 at 07:34:15 PT:
Great site!
 Geeze....check out the video on the amercare site posted by mary, worth a laugh. Lies lies lies.
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Comment #3 posted by Mary Friend on January 27, 2001 at 04:32:20 PT:

Governor Johnson's Misguided Ideas About Pot
Governor Johnson and many other "adults" are confused about the drug war. The facts are: people are not going to jail for using or possessing small amounts of pot.The average amount of pot federal prisoners have been charged with is 3 1/2 TONS.The drug war is not about protecting adults. It's about protecting children. Adult users appear worried only about their own freedom to get stoned. They don't seem to think about the children being abused by drug users, crack babies born addicted and deserted, children failing in school because their stoned parents are not help to them, many can't hold jobs to feed, clothe and house their children so all live on the streets or in homeless shelters. Meanwhile the general community is wondering why the schools are working. Get a life Governor Johnson. You're hanging out with the wrong crowd.
Drug Education
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Comment #2 posted by Phyro_the_Dragon on January 26, 2001 at 23:23:06 PT

Bravo !!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is going to a fun debait Lots of Luck And God Bless May you stay in everyones prayers. PHYRO_THE_DRAGON.
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Comment #1 posted by meagain on January 26, 2001 at 12:52:51 PT

Right on
Good luck God bless this debate.
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