cannabisnews.com: Doing OK on Dope Doing OK on Dope Posted by FoM on September 27, 2000 at 08:41:30 PT E-Mail Letters To The Editor Source: WorldNetDaily It's refreshing to see a conservative online newspaper advocate sensible drug policy. With regards to cannabis, the proper name for the plant Harry Anslinger renamed marijuana, the most pertinent question is the following: Under what constitutional authority does the federal government make substances such a cannabis illegal? Or, asked in a slightly different way: If they needed a constitutional amendment to make alcohol (once legal) illegal, why don't they need a constitutional amendment to make cannabis (once legal) illegal? Did they change the Constitution while we weren't looking, or did we simply forget what it meant? I posit that our republic ended somewhere around 1936 with the Supreme Court's decisions on the constitutionality of Social Security. I believe their reading was that the welfare clause of the Constitution gave the Federal government broad powers to do substantially as they pleased. We've seen where that's taken us. Of course these questions beg other questions like: Under what constitutional authority does the federal government tell us what to eat (FDA), how much water we can use when we flush the toilet (EPA), or (substitute your favorite big-brother control mechanism here)? Can't have the citizen units asking questions like that! JIM BURNES Joel's Got It Wrong: This is regarding Joel Miller's column referring to Rep. Tom Campbell's proposed death penalty for drug pushers. Chewing a coca leaf is not the same as snorting a line. Two consecutive turns on a heroin needle in two weeks will physically addict you. And speed has killed many ... Ginger Baker (drummer for Cream) comes to mind. While marijuana is a mild euphoric, the above named drugs are not. They enter and become a part of the cell nucleus. You become physically addicted for life. Cocaine being more insidious, it does not enter the cell nucleus, it does enter the nervous system as your nerves are canals; it over amps neurotransmitter fluid production which in turn dissolves portions of your brain. This has been tested and shown true in science magazines back in the mid '80s While it is true that tobacco and alcohol kill people, it is also true that moderate use of same does not. This holds true for marijuana ingestion as well. It does not hold true for heroin, speed and cocaine. And those who deal these substances know for certain that they are eventually killing their clientele. I do not favor the current policy in the Drug War of property confiscation, warrantless searches and so forth. However, if it were up to me, every person found dealing heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines would be tried and sentenced as a person conspiring to commit premeditated murder. And I would have him executed upon sentencing. Due process must not be sacrificed yet, if your child was bitten by a rabid dog, wouldn't you kill that dog? Of course you would. The hard drug dealer is worse than a rabid dog. The dog does not know what is happening to it. It has a disease. The hard drug dealer knows full well what he is doing. I have no pity or compassion for the hard drug dealer. They deserve an immediate and compulsory execution upon conviction of sale to any person, be they 12 or 112. LEN TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2000 Drug War Hobgoblins: Just remember that the drug czar's job depends on the perpetual prosecution of, but NEVER a victory in, the drug war. Also, remember that the politicians depend on the drug war and its rhetoric to scare up votes (by scaring voters). The politicians also rely on the drug war to sustain their constituent industries that depend on the economics of prohibition in order to make generous profits and campaign contributions that keep the drug warrior politicians in power and, therefore, keep themselves in business. Remember what H.L. Mencken said: "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." What the drug warriors don't want anyone to know is that they secretly don't list victory as an objective in their war. Maybe the corrupt politicians and media are required to adhere to the party line of prohibition because law enforcement, customs, the prison and military industrial complex, the drug testing industry, the INS, the CIA, the FBI, the DEA and the politicians themselves can't live without the budget justification -- not to mention the invisible profits, bribery, corruption and forfeiture benefits -- that prohibition affords them. The drug war also promotes, justifies and perpetuates racist enforcement policies and is diminishing many freedoms and liberties that are supposed to be inalienable according to the Constitution and Bill of Rights. MYRON VON HOLLINGSWORTH E-Mail Letters To The Editor:http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_e-mail/98.e-mail.shtmlSource: WorldNetDaily (US Web)Web Posted: September 27, 2000Copyright: 2000, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.Contact: letters worldnetdaily.comAddress: PO Box 409, Cave Junction, OR 97523-0409Fax: (541) 597-1700Website: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/Related Articles:Straight Dope: Lookout for Big Narc http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7167.shtmlStraight Dope: Dispatches From the Drug War http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7134.shtmlThe Lord Giveth, The Police Taketh Away http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7109.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Joel Miller http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Joel+Miller Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by Phyro on September 28, 2000 at 18:48:00 PT Dope or Dopes Well Well Well It looks like the Anti"S are trying to tell us all that the World Wide Web is wrong and they are right!! Let's look at the Evendence that is out on the WWWand then let them look at the Evendence for them selfs ( not from the Drug zars Office). [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Dan B on September 27, 2000 at 20:23:11 PT: Puleeeeeeeease! Well, I guess there is no hope for any person who has used heroin or cocaine more than twice, eh? Pack up the treatment centers, and go home; Len (notice no full name is printed here--I wouldn't want to be associated with this drivel, either) has declared that nothing can end the physical addiction to heroin or cocaine once the person becomes a habitual user. I guess that all treatment for addictions to cocaine and heroin are doomed from the get-go. Get real! The author of this one is a real nutjob.Thanks for the excellent comments, observer. You are, of course, right on the money.Dan B [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by observer on September 27, 2000 at 10:19:33 PT Dissolves Portions of Your Brain They enter and become a part of the cell nucleus. You become physically addicted for life. Huh? This is bogus; false. Heroin (etc.) does not "become a part of the cell nucleus." Where do they get this stuff? Same place as the "LSD-users-stare-at-sun-until-blind" myth?Cocaine being more insidious, it does not enter the cell nucleus, it does enter the nervous system as your nerves are canalsHoo boy. "nerves are canals", eh? It is amazing what people "know", isn't it? I think Mrs. Malaprop there needs to go back to school. There are such things as "nerve canals". However they are, basically, holes in bones where nerves pass through. Nerves are not "canals"...it over ampsneurotransmitter fluid productionScientific-sounding (but bogus) terms ...which in turn dissolves portions of your brain.False, but we're getting used to that.This has been tested and shown true in science magazines back in the mid '80sIt was "shown true in science magazines", was it? Who could argue with that, then?speed has killed many ... Ginger Baker (drummer for Cream) comes to mind.Dr Russo is right ... Baker is still kicking.(Ginger Baker ... 1999 release:http://www.checkout.com/music/title/info/0,7642,354588,00.html )Eventually, the good Mrs. Malaprop comes to a merciful conclusion: if your child was bitten by a rabid dog, wouldn't you kill that dog? Of course you would. The hard drug dealer is worse than a rabid dog."Dealers" are demonized as subhuman, in order to make their scapegoating and murders acceptable, like killing a rabid dog. . . . Like Nazis, drug warriors like to portray their victims as murders. Nancy Reagan declared, "If you're a casual drug user, you're an accomplice to murder."121 President Bush agreed: "Casual drug use is responsible for the casualties of the drug war. . . . Dabblers in drugs bear responsibility for the blood being spilled."122 . . . A Partnership for a Drug-Free America ad said that anyone who buys marijuana is responsible for murders of police.125 . . . As with Nazi actions against Jews, drug warrior actions against users are made more palatable through rhetoric portraying victims as nonhuman. "We will not tolerate those who sell drugs and those who use drugs," said President Reagan. "All Americans of good will are determined to stamp out those parasites."127 "We are talking scum here," a drug cop told one reporter, "Air should be illegal if they breathe it."128 "One 'reality'-based crime program (Night Beat, WNYW-TV, 12/92) took us to a police briefing, where the chief of a narcotics unit on camera tells his assembled officers -- not once but twice -- 'Remember, you are dealing with the scum of the earth.'"129 One researcher of police attitudes found that "when confronted with the violence they sometimes inflict [against drug offenders], they justify themselves by asserting that their victims are not really human: 'they're scum,' 'they can't feel pain,' and so forth."130 One official described prisoners under his command: "Those aren't people -- they have to be treated quite differently."131 Such an attitude can be deadly, as demonstrated by the source of that particular description, an SS murderer. (Richard L Miller, Drug Warriors and their Prey, 1996, pgs.23-24) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0275950425/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by max on September 27, 2000 at 09:34:01 PT: sorry you are wrong I can tell you from personal experience that two turn in one week on the needle DOES NOT physically addict you! this is just a perpetuation of false studies and scare tactics so prevelant in this here republik [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on September 27, 2000 at 09:02:02 PT: Ginger Baker Lives! Ginger was still recording a few years back. Neat trick for a dead man. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: