- [17] TALK.POLITICS.DRUGS (1:375/48) -------------------- TALK.POLITICS.DRUGS - Msg : #3283 [255] From : Robert L. Pyers 1:2613/335 Fri 20 Jan 95 16:40 To : All Subj : DECRIMINALIZING WOULD BE A DISASTER -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: [r--ye--s] at [liberty.uc.wlu.edu] (Robert L. Pyers) Organization: Washington & Lee University Here's something to get the blood boiling again. I responded to A.M. Rosenthal's tripe and the letter was printed in the Miami Herald. Today I open up the paper to find a response from the DEA. It contains all the usual regurgitation of drug propaganda. If anyone would like to voice their opinion of this guy to the Herald, their editorial E-mail address is [H--al--d] at [aol.com.] Here's the letter that started the ruckus, and the DEA's response follows. Enjoy. I wonder, does Mr. Rosenthal think that Prohibition was an idyllic period of American history? His solution to the drug problem is to lock everyone up. Between 35 and 40 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year. The annual cost of imprisoning this group would be $800 billion. Clearly this isn't a realistic option. Currently, individuals convicted solely on drug offenses account for 33% of the federal prison population. Several points make legalization an option worth examining. First, street drugs are dangerous primarily because they are an unregulated product. Hard drugs (i.e., cocaine, heroin) are cut with other substances, the final product on the street containing between 40% and 97% impurities (with impurities responsible for 80% of the 4,000 deaths attributable to consumption of illegal drugs). Compare in stark contrast the combined 500,000 deaths from tobacco and alcohol each year. It should be noted that no one in history has overdosed on marijuana. Second, the illegal drug industry generates half of the revenue for organized crime. Legalization would deprive organized crime of between $10 and $50 billion annually. Approximately $30 billion tax dollars will be used to finance the failed drug war in 1995, in effect subsidizing organized crime. Finally, decriminalization in eleven states in the 1970s failed to cause an increase in drug consumption, and the Netherlands saw a decline in drug use in the decade after decriminalization. That legalization would increase the number of users is a possibility, but not a certainty. I can only hope that the majority of Americans do not share Mr. Rosenthal's unwillingness to examine alternatives to drug prohibition. I urge his readers to seek out the facts and form an opinion based on something more objective than the rhetoric that comes from either side of the issue. Sincerely, Robert L. Pyers ------------ Robert Pyers's rebuttal to A.M. Rosenthal's extraordinary Jan.4 Viewpoints Page column on drug legalization was built entirely on false premises. Prohibition may not have been idyllic, but it was a public-health success. Alcohol consumption fell by more than one third, cirrhosis deaths fell 64 percent, and admissions to mental institutions fell 54 percent. Mr. Pyers estimates that 35 million to 40 million Americans smoked marijuana in the past year. The best surveys place it at under 19 million. He complains that 33 percent of the federal prison population is there solely on drug offenses. Thes criminals distributed poisonous substances to addicted people, and they are just where they belong. Mr. Pyers hypothesizes that drugs are dangerous because they are unreulated and diluted with other substances. Heroin, cocaine, metamphetamine, etc. need no assistance to cause anaphylactic shock, cardiac arrest, etc. Marijuana causes many serious physiological and behavioral consequences. He asserts that legalization would deprive organized crime of $10 billion to $50 billion a year. Crime, turf wars, violence, and murders by organized crime did not decline after Prohibition was repealed. The mob simply moved on to other criminal endeavors. "Decriminalization of marijuana in 11 states in the 70s failed to cause an increase in use" says Mr. Pyers. In fact, substance abuse professionals in Oregon and Alaska say that marijuana use, including adolescent use, at least doubled there after relazation of those laws and did not decline until stricter laws were reinstituted. Mr. Rosenthal's unerring common sense and graceful writing spoke the truth about drug legalization. It was a cogent, sober look, unfettered by the egalitarian theories of those who have made legalization a cause celebre without regard to its debilitating effects on society. Wayne J. Roques Demand Reduction Coordinator Miami Field Division Drug Enforcement Administration -- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rob Pyers - [r--ye--s] at [wlu.edu] - [z 001460 b] at [bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us] . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . . "It's just a ride, folks..." - Bill Hicks . --- * Origin: COBRUS - Usenet-to-Fidonet Distribution System (1:2613/335.0)