Pubdate: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW) Website: http://www.drugsense.org LETTER OF THE WEEK TIME TO CHANGE U.S. DRUG POLICIES By Dalan Crockett and Paul Bennett Editor of the Reformer: An open letter to President Obama: Dear Mr. President, Not one American belongs in prison for drug use alone, in absence of a real crime. Using any drug in and of itself should not constitute criminal activity. Laws criminalizing personal behavior in which no one harms others or their property are arbitrary and subjective means that impose the will of one group of people on another. American jurisprudence too often omits the laws of nature in favor of harsh legal judgments that one-sidedly interpret some human behavior as being unlawful. Two people have recently come under criminal investigation following marijuana allegations. How did it feel to learn of the arrest of your wary-gazed and proud brother in Kenya who asks for nothing but the dignity to live his own life; or an Olympic medalist groveling to the media with an act of contrition that he did something "not in a manner people have come to expect" of him? No one in good conscience would make adults who use marijuana wait another day to exercise their right of choice, free from criminal justice supervision. Let us begin rational drug policy in your administration by ending marijuana prohibition, and moving this important and lucrative crop into the realm of a taxed and licensed supply and demand market for adult consumption. In the main, adult use of marijuana is not criminally intended nor does it represent conduct unbecoming of a good citizen. Failure of this nation to understand that sends the message to millions of hard working, law abiding citizens that justice lay with the accusation, not upon an actual crime. Furthermore, it is an insult to the American people that they are portrayed as incapable of maturely using marijuana in a manner consistent with responsible adult behavior. This is not solely a matter of who is right, it is a matter of whether our nation is wrong to criminalize adults for private drug use. By doing so, the American and international drug war sends an immoral message to kids everywhere that adults settle their differences by locking each other up. Moreover, that we stigmatize adult behavior that turns friend against friend, brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor and creates crime where there was no crime before. Therefore, we are not strictly writing to you as a matter of opinion or advocacy. Rather, we appeal to your good conscience. Please ask yourself, Mr. President, what kind of civilized nation puts its people into prison for privately using drugs? When will this greatest of modern human rights abuses come to an end, so that this nation, or any nation, will never again conduct a war against its own people? Dalan Crockett and Paul Bennett Pubdate: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 Source: Brattleboro Reformer (VT) - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake