Dear Editor, Re: Timing of Cody Roberson's arrest warrant in question This is always enforcement's conundrum, "How do we get the bad guy before he gets us without hurting the innocent? How do we find murderers before they kill?" America gets an F in two out of three public safety indicators comparing world governments' statistics concerning homicides, assaults and thefts. The U.S. is a material world so we get just above average marks for protection from and solving thefts. Where our government fails is in protecting us from and solving homicides and assaults. [continues 435 words]
Re: "Bill would help fund drug fight in Mexico" (Jan. 18): Our politicians play on our fears to make us more accepting of their waste of lives and resources. Our government spends more than $40 billion per year on anti-drug abuse. Add another $850 million! If our mission was to build a paramilitary style police force, huge prison industry and totalitarian state, by George we've done it! War creates a booming economy for some on the suffering of many. [continues 129 words]
Shame on our system, it reeks! Harvey Silverglate, a Boston defense lawyer, says the rewards for informers encourages them "not only to sing, but to compose." ["Thank you for not snitching," August 16-22.] It is downright sinister, a crime against humanity, for the medicinal use of cannabis to be suppressed! Patients all over the world testify to cannabis' help in treating chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, gastrointestinal (GI) tract disorders and HIV/AIDS! Some scientists speculate that cannabinoids play a protective role in the brain, slowing the rate of disease. Studies have shown it to slow the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice: lung and breast cancer, and a virus-induced leukemia, and in another study THC destroyed incurable brain tumors in rats! [continues 188 words]
To the editor: No legitimate business shoots the competition. No legitimate business would sell drugs to children or recruit them to sell to their peers. This happened during alcohol prohibition and it is happening today. Once again, prohibition creates more danger to the user and society. The White House continues to ignore the lessons of the "noble experiment" and truth has been suppressed about the medicinal use of cannabis, giving drug prohibition a very sinister aspect. Like flagellant priests, overzealous drug warriors draw blood daily from their brothers for their medicinal and recreational drug use. Don't let them carry this nation one step further down this depraved path! [continues 141 words]
The White House continues to ignore the lessons of history, and truth has been suppressed about marijuana's medicinal use, giving drug prohibition a very sinister aspect. Alcohol prohibition taught us, when drugs production and distribution is left to gangsters and cartels, it triggers more danger to users and society by increasing violent crime and corruption of public officials. It was called "the noble experiment," but did we learn anything? End border violence by ending the drug war. The Controlled Substances Act is one of those bad laws like the Fugitive Slave Act and the Volstead Act. When juries refuse to convict on "drug crime," drug warriors will be politically dead bodies. Jury nullification is a constitutional power tool we the people pack! [continues 144 words]
Dear Editor, As with the Fugitive Slave Act and the Volstead Act, the time has come again for juries to not convict, this time on "drug crime." Encouraging children to snitch on their parents; getting parents to drug test and rat on their children; harassing the sick and dying is despicable and against American ideals. Prohibition ruins young lives! It destroys families without compunction or compassion. When any drug's production and distribution is left to gangsters and cartels it triggers more danger to the user and society by increasing violent crime and corruption of public officials. [continues 433 words]
To the editor: Regarding "Bling, Bang, Little Gangstas" (Feb. 15, 2006): These kids need help. They want to feel like they belong to something! We need to provide a safer environment that meets their social needs. The truth about drugs will keep our children off them. Sound medical and unbiased scientific knowledge is the most effective moral persuasion. Present policy falsehoods and scare tactics have undermined our credibility. People are going to self-medicate, smoke, drink, and party no matter what the law says. The best we can hope from our policies is to reduce the harm. [continues 255 words]
Amen, Andres Martinez! Leaders responsible for current quagmire will have to answer to a higher power for their crimes against humanity. It's time to end the terror by changing our intrusive, big-bully policies, both foreign and domestic. The monetary costs are staggering and the human suffering unconscionable. War is a tool governments use to make us more docile, more accepting of their waste of our precious lives and resources. Prohibition triggers violence and crime, plus it destroys families. There are an estimated 9 million American children orphaned because of the drug war. [continues 161 words]
Re: "Educators put to test on Red Ribbon Week," Monday Metro story. I agree with Arlington parent Maureen Maidlow, who said teachers shouldn't offer too much information. We want to encourage drug-free behavior, not awaken students' curiosity. Scare tactics and fear don't work as well as truth, trust and reason. Based on a 2003 study by addiction researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo, alcohol use makes domestic violence eight times more likely. Marijuana use does not. [continues 152 words]
American drug policy is a strange and seedy case [re: "The Strange Seedy Case of Marc Emery, Canadian," Sept. 22]! Drugs kill over 26 percent of the people who die each year in the U.S. Tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceuticals kill about a quarter of us. Less than 1 percent die from all illicit drug use, none, nada, no deaths are attributed to marijuana. Obviously, we are all safer to grow natural herb gardens. War is a tool governments use to make us more agreeable to their waste of our precious lives and resources. War creates a booming economy for some on the suffering of many. This is a lot bigger deal than sex in the Oval Office - the racism, corruption, and uncaring destruction of lives to make a buck or feed an addiction to power. In our name, they have sent our brave troops to die for oil; they have taken money away from disaster preparedness for oil; they have shamed, destroyed families, locked up, and killed many (including members of enforcement) over a choice in a recreational/medicinal drug. [continues 59 words]
To the editor: Re: American efforts to extradite Marc Emery. (Editor's note: See related story page A9.) Why should seeds made by God be such a big problem? Alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals are the biggest backers of the war on some drugs that might compete with them. It is obvious that our (U.S) drug policy is not about the well being of the individual but about corporate or physician profits. In today's climate we are much safer growing a natural herb garden. Our present system causes more violence, pain, suffering and death than the drugs themselves and is destroying all that America once stood for. Leaders responsible for promoting our present nonsensical policy will answer to a higher power for their crimes against humanity. Colleen Minter Stephenville, Texas [end]
RE: AMERICAN efforts to extradite Marc Emery. Why should seeds made by God be such a big problem? Alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals are the biggest backers of the war on some drugs that might compete with them. It is obvious that our drug policy is not about the well-being of the individual but about corporate or physician profits. In today's climate we are much safer growing a natural herb garden. Colleen Minter Stephenville, Texas (How about some nice oregano?) [end]
Why should seeds made by God be such a big problem? It is obvious that North American drug policy is not about the well-being of the individual but about corporate or physician profits. The present system of prohibition causes more violence, pain, suffering and death than do the drugs themselves. Leaders responsible for promoting the present nonsensical policy will answer to a higher power for their crimes against humanity. Colleen Minter Stephenville, Texas [end]
Regarding "Stop the border violence," by Jerry Brewer (Commentary, July 27): Our drug policies create the black market that triggers all this violence. Ending prohibition is the answer. If Texas Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott were sincere in his statement "We want to do everything we can to eliminate violence . . . and keep residents of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo as safe as possible," he would join LEAP: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Our poor drug policy causes more violence, pain, suffering and death than the drugs themselves. Constitutional policy would be about truth, not moral judgment. It would concentrate on harm reduction, and preservation of the family, if at all possible. Current policy is destroying families and all that America once stood for. Support for the federal war on drugs is inconsistent with support for individual freedom, constitutional government, and the teachings of Jesus. Leaders responsible for promoting our present nonsensical policy will have to answer to a higher power for their crimes against humanity. Colleen Minter Stephenville, Texas [end]
Re: "Failed Drug War Won't Protect Our Children" [Commentary, April 6]. Our drug policies create the black market - which is the threat to society because it creates an atmosphere in which we must be afraid to send our children to a corner store; to ever leave them unsupervised. Katie Collman (Indiana) and Paul Guajardo (Texas) are two children recently murdered. Katie (10) stumbled [upon] a meth lab, and Paul was undercover at 14. It's estimated over 100 million Americans have used some illegal drug. Why not educate our young, treat our addicts, and respect the rights of adults to choose their own recreational or medicinal intoxicant? It would free law enforcement to better protect us from violence and fraud, plus create room in prison for those selling children drugs. [continues 77 words]
"Wake Up to Drugs!" Open your eyes about drug policy. Our drug policies create the black market. This creates an atmosphere in which we must be afraid to send our children to a corner store, to ever leave them unsupervised. Katie Collman (Ind.) and Paul Guajardo (TX) are two children recently murdered. Katie (10) stumbled on a meth lab and Paul was undercover at 14. Why not truthfully educate our young, treat our addicts and respect the rights of adults to choose their own medicinal or recreational intoxicant? It would free law enforcement to better protect us from violence and fraud plus create more room in prison for those selling children drugs. [continues 67 words]
James Madison, primary author of the Constitution, said, "No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse." The US/Texas Criminal "Justice" System reeks of injustice: racism, hypocrisy, and corruption. Most recent court violence is clearly related to these inequitable laws. Our drug policies create the black market. [continues 169 words]
Why? Other cultures have used psychedelic drugs for millennia. They treat them with great respect. They control them with elaborate rituals and traditions. Our culture gives over their control to criminals and tries to deny their amazing mind-revealing capabilities. Many people believe in a soul or spirit that can leave the body and even survive after death. Many have reported, "getting closer to God," or having mind changing, eye opening experiences when using these tools. Leaders responsible for this demonization of a tool that can bring people closer to God (or to just feel as one with the universe) will have to answer to a higher power for their crimes against humanity. B. Colleen Minter Stephenville, Texas [end]
