Pubdate: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 Source: Terre Haute Tribune-Star (IN) Copyright: 1999 Tribune-Star Publishing Co. Inc. Contact: http://www.tribstar.com Author: Brad Manzenberger NATION NEEDS TO REFORM DRUG LAWS Which does more harm to the individual and to society, drugs or the prohibition of drugs? Some would have us believe that the only way to stop America's drug problem is to lock up all the 'druggies' and throw away the key. People that have never used an illegal drug but favor drug law reform are even classified 'druggies' because of their beliefs. America does not have a drug problem, some American's have a drug problem. Incarcerating people for choosing to use a substance that in some cases is safer than legal, socially accepted drugs, often does more harm than the drug itself. Because of prohibition children find it easier to buy illegal drugs than alcohol. They can go to almost any street corner in any town and buy virtually any illicit substance they want. But if it's alcohol thatthey desire they have to find someone over 21 willing to buy it for them. Don't let the federal drug warriors fool you, the people wanting reform are not out to get your kids hooked. The only people looking for more kids to sell drugs to are the dealers. They don't want drugs legalized anyway, if that were to happen they would be out of a very lucrative 'career.' If America truly wants to address the drug issue Americans have got to start finding alternatives to the $50 billion a year (state and federal)failure known as the War on Drugs. Perhaps America does have a drug problem, not with drug use, but with how we deal with drugs. Prohibition fosters corruption at all levels. It has created huge industries whose continued existence depends on America's insatiable desire to lock up anyone who believes differently. Prisons have become a for-profit industry that lobbies for stricter laws pertaining to drugs and other consensual 'crimes.' The drug testing industry doesn't want to see an end to this Nazi-style round up either because they too would lose untold billions in future profits. What else has drug prohibition done to America? It has made criminal acts of things that are not. Nearly 700,000 people were arrested on marijuana charges in 1997, more than 80 percent of those for possession. Smoking marijuana is a consensual act. Locking the users up doesn't get the dealers away from our children. While all those 'pot-heads' were being thrown in jail for an activity that is less dangerous than drinking a cup of coffee, murderers, other violent criminals and sexual predators were released back into to society so the 'druggies' could serve relatively harsh sentences for a crime that had no victim. I know some are going to say that the children or the 'druggies' families are victims, but if the law didn't prohibit drugs fewer adolescents would use them and more addicts could get help instead of being thrown in jail. 70 million Americans have admitted to having tried marijuana some time in their life. Most stop using in their late 20s or early 30s, unlike tobacco which has a 95 percent addiction rate. Even those people who don't stop are generally still productive members of society, pay their taxes, and except for smoking marijuana, are honest law abiding citizens. I guarantee everyone reading this knows someone who has smoked marijuana, you just don't know it yet. The drug war has done nothing but ruin lives, waste money, breed corruption in law enforcement and foster a distrust of law enforcement. It has also eroded our civil liberties to the point that the federal government has been sued. To think that we can rid this nation completely of drugs is a fantasy concocted to keep the drug war machine rolling. If we really want to keep kids off of drugs and help addicts clean themselves up, then we have got to reform our drug laws. Brad Manzenberger Terre Haute - --- MAP posted-by: Patrick Henry