TALK.POLITICS.DRUGS From : Michael Hess 1:375/48 Mon 11 Apr 94 17:14 To : Steve Gibson Subj : M.A.R.I.J.U.A.N.A Steve Gibson had to do community service for saying to (crosspost 1) All: SG> Rex Kahler ([d--p--n] at [ziggys.cts.com619]/262-6384) wrote: SG> : } Floyd, marijuana is addictive. Look it up sometime in a drug guide or SG> ask : } a local policeman. It might not be as addictive as cocaine or SG> heroin etc. : } but it still is. SG> : yeah...right....like i'm really gonna believe the word of a pig........ SG> : and please tell me which "drug guide" you've been reading - none of mine SG> : say any such thing. lemme guess....you got a copy of a DARE booklet..... SG> : and we all know what an impeccable source of facts they are....! SG> Spoken like a true dope fiend. I have been reading your posts with interest. It's always nice to see a cops point of view on this issue. I am wondering though, seeing your answer above, do you really believe that D.A.R.E. stuff? Have you ever thought of checking the facts and studies that are available? You might find your blood and guts stance is un-supportable. You might also find that the drug war has been declared un-supportable for numerous reasons, in almost every *government* study on the subject since Nixon. I hope you hang around here a while. You might find the stuff they keep handing you about drug *use* being the problem instead of drug prohibition is false. I understand what you say about seeing the wonderful sights on the street, being someone who has been there, *I do understand*. I understand that the place you live requires cops to follow the rules of law. Lucky citizens. I also understand that you can simply watch C.O.P.S. on TV and see violations by police. My children understand an unspecific warrant that simply specifies "dwelling occupant(s)" based on kids hanging out because they have no where else to go. They understand cops who break in the door with "ninja" outfits on and break out every window, terrorizing children and others in the process. No knock searches with sketchy warrants based on an even sketchier CI's word seems to be becoming the norm rather than the exception. And guess what happens when they find nothing? You guessed it, the local version of HRS declares the dwelling un-inhabitable, because of broken windows, no door lock etc. That's it, screw a family because of *suspected* drug use. Let me ask you something; Do you and your cops, when searching a house of suspected drug activity, search drawers, specified or not and brandish a vibrator and ask the kids mother in front of her children, "hey lady, I'll bet you like this thing eh?" How about a naked picture of me (in a rather compromising position from the days when my wife and I had first starting seeing each other) that had never been seen by my eleven year old being put on the kitchen table, leaned against an ashtray for all to see? Go ahead call it an isolated incident, then read todays news or query others here in t.p.d. and see just how isolated it ain't. You expect my kids and tens of thousands of others to respect cops? What about me? I was born a military brat. Brought up to respect the uniform. Brought up to ask help from a policeman because he is "my friend". Grow your hair long and hang out in another city for a while without revealing you are a cop and see what kind of treatment you get. Better yet, you don't need long hair if you are black or hispanic. Get yourself a ten or fifteen year old car with a tail light or a license plate light out and see how you fare. Getting tired of hearing these dope fiend rantings yet? I work hard in a craft that took me a six year apprenticeship to learn and many more years to get good at. I am self educated (high school grad, some college) and my education nevers stops. I taught myself to run a computer bulletin board system and have maintained it at my own expense for the last four years. I am an avid fisherman, love my kids and love this country. You tell me why the government should be persecuting folks for using a plant? Or any other drug for that matter as long as folks do it in their home without endangering others? Otherwise, law abiding, tax paying citizens are losing everything not because of the use of a drug. It's the war stupid! You tell me if drunk driving is such a problem, (and I feel it is) why are there bars? I certainly don't advocate drinking and driving and I sure don't advocate prohibition but for the life of me I cannot figure out why it is alright to go to the local bar and purchase more than one drink if it is well known that the one drink will (usually) put you over the legal limit to operate a vehicle? Can you say to the kids during your next D.A.R.E lecture, "dual message?" Seems to be one of the rallying cries used by the drug warriors who are against any form of legalization, "hey, if we legalized drugs we would be sending the wrong message to kids!" My youngest asks me all the time, why is it ok to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes when it is so dangerous? Those (most) idiot politicians do NOT have mine or my kids best interest at heart, they just want to keep those cushy jobs, get re-elected, then go to the private sector and rake in the dough? Ask someone in this newsgroup where George Bush is now? Most of the folks here understand one of the most important distinctions of all, the difference between drug use and drug abuse. I don't think anyone here is in favor of drug ABUSE. I'm almost certain that no one is implying that drug use while driving or doing anything else that may endanger another is a responsible thing to do. But speaking for myself, I want the violence associated with the drug war to end. I want my kids to be safe from both sides. Take the money out of this "war" and the drive bys, the shootings, the erosion of the Bill of Rights will largely dry up. End the governments intrusion in other countries affairs. Instead of being considered a pariah by so-called society, those that are truly abusing drugs may actually get the medical help they need instead of the alternative; incarceration, seizure of property, kids being taken away (for their own "good" of course) and losing any hope of a good job and of course, the stigma attached to victimless, consensual behavior. Personal responsibility is the word of the day here, Steve. It's not the drugs themselves it is the PROFIT induced peripheral crime resulting from prohibition that is causing the violence. Not too mention how the lies and deceit are rending the very fabric of this country into tatters. The term "drug related" has been a catch all phrase coined to pass personal responsibility to a substance instead of the person, then used as an excuse for government to become our "daddy." The Justice Department recently released a study that cannot confirm a link between crime and drug *use* and that's just the "tip of the iceberg." If the parent corporation in the war on drugs can't find a link who are you to keep telling the same old lies? One more thing, a small town Alabama woman got busted for 45 pounds of Marijuana (with all the usual bells and whistles, house seized, vehicles gone etc. otherwise hard working people). One of the local papers (Prattville Progress, November 14th, 1993) reported that this bust was worth $4.17 million dollars! Yes, I said million. So I called the editor and asked him where he got such an outlandish figure? Uh, the Sheriffs Department. You see, the Sheriffs Department told him that the 45 pounds of weed could be rolled into 4.17 million joints (yes, hard to believe) and at a dollar apiece that comes to $4.17 mil! I asked the editor how he thought this was possible and he told me that he knew nothing about drugs and he took the cops word for it. I asked him if he thought he could take 45 pounds of semi-dry lawn clippings and even hope to roll more than four million joints, he stammered a bit of course. Then I asked him: "Did you ever think to check if what you reported could possibly in any way shape or form be true and didn't you even think to question such an obvious and outlandish lie?" He hung up. The lies are catching up to law enforcement and the government. The information superhighway will put a rest to the lies (well, most of 'em, the Whitehouse was caught recently "editing" the electronically released version of a press release) Stick around, I hope you do. [michael hess] at [f48.n375.z1.fidonet.org] == The harder I work, the luckier I get. --- Golded 2.42 1635US1 via D'Bridge 003179 --- * Origin: BBSNEWS * Lake Jordan, Alabama * USR 16.8 205-567-9310 (1:375/48)