Pubdate: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 Source: Press, The (New Zealand) Copyright: 2000 The Christchurch Press Company Ltd. Contact: Private Bag 4722, Christchurch, New Zealand Fax: +64-3-364-8238 Website: http://www.press.co.nz/ Author: Allan Erickson Note: Headline by Editor NEW ZEALAND SHOULD REJECT AMERICA'S DRUG WAR Sir-Prohibition of cannabis is fundamentally wrong and is leading the United States into becoming one of the most repressive nations on the planet. We have just reached two million people in our prisons and jails. The repression we are experiencing is reaching beyond the oppressive levels of the Russian gulags. Even the anti-communist fervour of the McCarthy era pales in comparison to the outrages perpetrated under the guise of the drug war mantra, "protecting our children". Are you willing to sacrifice the rights citizens should enjoy in a democracy in order to control human nature? As America fills its new corporate, for-profit prisons, the Constitution and Bill of Rights - argued and fought for so passionately - are sacrificed to police misconduct, prosecutorial abuse, and politicians on the take. New Zealand should not follow in these footsteps. Allan Erickson, Oregon, March 6, 2000 - --- MAP posted-by: Eric Ernst