Pubdate: Wed, 30 Oct 2002
Source: Arizona Republic (AZ)
Webpage:
Copyright: 2002 The Arizona Republic
Contact:  http://www.arizonarepublic.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: William J. Bennett

WE DON'T NEED POLICE PEDDLING MARIJUANA

Never has the capacity of law enforcement to do its job in America been 
more strained than in the year since Sept. 11, 2001.

Charged with ever-increasing responsibility to protect the homeland, police 
have their hands full investigating crimes potentially linked to organized 
terror.

But now, in Arizona, it is proposed that officers take their focus off 
protecting Americans in order to run a handout program - and it's not 
handing out bike safety tips or meals at a soup kitchen. They are being 
asked to distribute marijuana.

Citizens of Arizona will vote Tuesday on Proposition 203. If passed, this 
policy would require state police to distribute marijuana to anyone with a 
medical recommendation - not even a prescription - that marijuana might 
mitigate some condition as minor as muscle spasms or nausea.

Handouts in doses of up to 2 ounces a month for a year would be authorized 
(an estimated 200 joints can be rolled from 2 ounces). Police would supply 
the demand with confiscated marijuana. With no idea of the purity of these 
seized stashes, the Arizona Department of Public Safety effectively would 
be required to set up a marijuana-sanitizing system to avoid lawsuits over 
handouts from bad batches.

But that's not all. Proposition 203 would also make it harder to prosecute 
drug offenders. It would decriminalize possession of up to 2 ounces of 
marijuana so that anyone whose supply did not come from the police would 
face nothing more than a $250 fine.

Proposition 203 would also eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for drug 
offenders and require parole for those convicted of personal possession of 
a controlled substance.

Proposition 203 has a long list of opponents: current Gov. Jane Dee Hull 
and both candidates for governor, Janet Napolitano and Matt Salmon; U.S. 
Senss Jon Kyl and John McCain; and state associations of police, 
firefighters, county attorneys and sheriffs.

Proposition 203 is backed by big-spending drug legalizers like New York 
billionaire George Soros who have foisted their agenda not just on Arizona 
but on other states. Now, former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods is 
trying to give legitimacy to the Proposition 203 drug legalization 
campaign. But he does not speak for law enforcement anymore. Inexplicably, 
Woods has simultaneously endorsed Proposition 303, an initiative to 
increase taxes on tobacco because of its harmful effects. Woods previously 
spearheaded Arizona's anti-tobacco lawsuit. When Woods campaigns so 
passionately against smoking cigarettes, how can he overlook the more 
significant health risks associated with smoking marijuana?

Marijuana smokers show higher levels of inhaled tar and carbon monoxide 
than tobacco smokers. Marijuana impairs short-term memory and concentration 
and it dulls reflexes and judgment.

Proposition 203 turns law enforcement on its head, making the police 
dealers of, rather than defenders against, drugs. If police are handing out 
marijuana, they are not patrolling neighborhoods, responding to calls of 
distress or tracking violent criminals.

The safety of our children, along with the rest of society, depends on 
eradicating drug use, not spreading it. With so many real threats to our 
homeland, let's not fabricate another one by decriminalizing drug possession.

William J. Bennett was the first director of the Office of National Drug 
Control Policy and a former U.S. secretary of education.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom