MAPTalk-Digest Wednesday, December 27 2006 Volume 06 : Number 150
001 James Brown
From: Herb <>
002 Families welcome Christmas sentence cuts
From: Herb <>
003 History Shows That Legalized Drugs Do Not Cause Problems
From: R Givens <>
004 I wonder how long my comment will last at China Daily?
From: Herb <>
005 US OH: OPED: We Have Lost Drug War
From: Allan Erickson <>
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Subj: 001 James Brown
From: Herb <>
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2006 08:52:04 -0800
FYI -
He said he smokes marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Brown told the newspaper: ``I have bad eyes. It was just a little
tiny bit. It wasn't even a misdemeanor...it should've been in
recorder's court.''
-
http://www.marijuananews.com/marijuananews/cowan/james_brown_arrested_
James Brown - I Feel Good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs1HUbMCZKc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6zP7FkaovA&NR
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Subj: 002 Families welcome Christmas sentence cuts
From: Herb <>
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2006 09:24:24 -0800
FYI -
"THE families of convicted Australian drug traffickers Schapelle
Corby and Renae Lawrence have welcomed a one-month cut to each of
their jail terms but say they wish it could be more."
- Families welcome Christmas sentence cuts:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20974792-401,00.html
Herb
p.s.
So this is Christmas...
sarah mclachlan - wintersong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZwI5wXU1z4&mode=related&search
Sarah McLachlan -River
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udkaq7odKJo&mode=related&search
Fairytale of New York
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q-IGdmLKiY&mode=related&search
John Lennon War Is Over
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1EoQYGJrdU
Twisted Sister - Oh Come All Ye Faithful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPmu-uqQX9s&mode=related&search
Enya- Silent Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAJnrKwAcW4
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Subj: 003 History Shows That Legalized Drugs Do Not Cause Problems
From: R Givens <>
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2006 15:33:04 -0800
(letters following this outline have been published in several newspapers)
Proof that legal regulated drugs are the best
policy comes from the history BEFORE drug
prohibition. Search the archives in vain trying
to find cases of "drug crimes" or accidental drug
deaths BEFORE drug prohibition. There are no such
cases in the records.
ALL of the crime associated with illegal drugs
comes from drug laws, not drug intoxication. I
searched The New York Times microfilm archives
from 1910-1914 looking for "drug crimes" and
accidental overdoses- neither was found. I have
also done dozens of searches of
newspaperarchive.com for these subjects without
finding a single report of a "drug crime" and all
of the "drug deaths" were suicides. Reports of an
accidental drug deaths and drug crimes are not
found in the historic records.
Drug warriors constantly make the absurd claim
that drug prohibition is "keeping the public
safe" when the obvious truth is that America's
drug crusade is the largest single cause of
disease, death and crime in the nation.
Contrary to what drug crusaders claim there are
no benefits to drug prohibition whatsoever. Only
people with a profound ignorance of history think
drug laws are protecting anyone from anything.
There was no such thing as "drug crime" before
harsh drug laws went on the books. When drugs
were legal, addicts held regular employment,
raised decent families and were indistinguishable
from their teetotaling neighbors.
History shows that no one was robbing, whoring
and murdering to get drugs when addicts could buy
all of the heroin, morphine, cocaine and anything
else they wanted cheaply and legally at the
corner pharmacy. A legal heroin habit cost less
than tobacco addiction (50¢ per week in 1910) and
"drug crime" was unknown. Drug fueled crime never
happened before drug prohibition went on the
books. The term "drug crime" is an invention of
prohibitionists trying to cover the effects of
their failed drug policy.
A 1994 US Department of Justice study revealed
that "Illegal drugs and violence are linked
primarily through drug marketing: disputes among
rival distributors, arguments and robberies
involving buyers and sellers, property crimes
committed to raise drug money and, more
speculatively, social and economic interactions
between the illegal markets and the surrounding
communities. .... alcohol is the only
[psychoactive substance] whose consumption has
been shown to commonly increase aggression"
Accidental overdoses were virtually unheard of
when addicts used cheap pure morphine and Bayer
Heroin instead of the expensive toxic potions a
long failed drug crusade puts on the streets.
Unintentional opiate overdose deaths were
extremely rare before drugs were outlawed. Most
drug deaths before the Harrison Narcotic Act were
suicides. Nowadays, Drug Czar John Walters tells
us there are more than 30,000 accidental drug
deaths in the United States every year. The term
"drug death" is used to hide the fact that drug
laws are responsible for these fatalities.
Absolute proof that hard line American style drug
prohibition causes drug deaths and drug crimes
comes from the Swiss Heroin Maintenance Program
where addicts are supplied with cheap, pure
heroin and cocaine. Overdose deaths and
injection-transmitted diseases (HIV/AIDS, Hep C
etc) are now a rarity in Switzerland . The Swiss
have not had a single overdose death in the
program. Crime among Swiss addicts has dropped
97-percent and the criminal drug black market has
vanished since the Swiss began providing addicts
with cheap legal drugs. Swiss policy has also
resulted in an 82-percent decrease in heroin
addiction since 1990. Almost all addicts in
Switzerland are gainfully employed and
self-supporting.
America's drug crusade has not achieved similar
success using jail cells to treat addicts
anywhere in the world since 1914. Anyone truly
concerned about the victims of drugs, will work
to end an immoral death dealing drug crusade that
murders more than 30,000 people every year and
spawns a multitude of criminal activity.
R Givens
sources:
Should the amphetamines be prohibited?
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cu40.htm
The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit
Drugs
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cu5.html)
Some eminent narcotics addicts
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cu5.html
Psychoactive Substances and Violence
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/GOVPUBS/psycviol.htm
Status Report On The Medical Prescription Of Narcotics.
http://www.drugpolicy.org/library%5Ctlcswiss.cfm
Swiss Heroin Maintenance Program Declared a
Success http://www.ndsn.org/AUGUST97/SWISS.html
Swiss Voters Overwhelmingly Support Heroin
Maintenance Program
http://www.ndsn.org/novdec97/swiss.htm
Programme for a Medical of Narcotics: Final
Report of the Research Representatives
http://www.cfdp.ca/switz.htmlPrescription
http://www.emedicine.com/news.asp?name060601plcy001.xml&page=eMedicine
Did Alcohol Prohibition Reduce Alcohol Consumption and Crime?
http://www.druglibrary.org/prohibitionresults.htm
and
http://www.druglibrary.org/prohibitionresults.htm#a2)
DARE Doesn't Work
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/InTheNews/UnderageDrinking/1080070451
In reading yet again "anti-legalization" LTE
which ran in this morning's St Pete Times and
another item from former Drug Czar lackey Kevin
Sabet, I was struck by the refrain therein where
Sabet submitted that "legalization efforts have
been a failure (remember Switzerland's 'Needle
Park'??).
Well we all know that three years after shutting
down the Needle Park venture, the Swiss
instituted a more regulated safe injection and
heroin maintenance program which almost ten years
later has exceeded all expectations for
increasing public health and safety while
relieving their criminal justice system of
property crime and drug-possession cases.
But upon further reflection, I submit that in
fact "Legalization is tried and true and has a
proven track record."
As evidence I point to the system used in the
United States for the past 72 years.
99.9% of the pharmacopia and other intoxicant
drugs (alcohol and tobacco) are LEGAL and their
production and commercial distribution is subject
to various forms of regulation at the federal,
state and local levels.
This system has been approved of and supported by
communities, states and federal policymakers for
over seven decades.
As mentioned above, it is the preferred system
for production and distribution of the dangerous
and often addictive drugs alcohol, tobacco and
also includes risky and potentially abusable
drugs from Vicodin to Celebrex to Oxcyodone to
Morphine and hundreds of other in-demand Rx drugs.
It's time for reformers to wrest further control
of the "DrugSpeak" from status quo
Prohibitionists.
For decades, they've attempted to say, "Street drugs = BAD, Other Drugs = OKAY"
Next time someone suggests to you, in person or
in writing, that "legalization won't work",
remind them that legalization does in fact work
for 99.9% of the current list of in-demand drugs.
And further, legalization and movement into a
regulated free market will almost entirely end
street dealing for any drug, as proven by the
current distribution rates of legal drugs.
Alcohol - 99.9% of all alcohol transactions are
conducted by a legal, regulated dealer (retailer,
bar or restaurant).
Tobacco - 99.8% of all tobacco transactions are
conducted by a legal, regulated dealer. In the
past few years there has been a very tiny spike
in interstate smuggling from states with possibly
excessive taxation to states with lower taxation.
Rx Pharms - According to the DEA, "Upwards of 3%
of pharmacueticals in the U.S. are 'diverted'
illegally from legal distribution channels and
onto the street."
That translates into "97% of all Rx pharm
transactions are conducted by legal, regulated
drug dealers."
And the 3% diversion could quite likely be
reduced by our addressing the gross disparities
in pricing for Rx drug consumers. (insured vs
non-insured etc).
Fun Fact #1 A Legal, Regulated system for drug
production and distribution is NOT WITHOUT
PROBLEMS.
IFun Fact #2 A Legal, Regulated system for drug
production and distribution can be exploited by
those intent on same.
But regardless of both these facts, it remains a
far preferable system to that of drug Prohibition
and the associated societal damage and
destruction which is stimulated by Prohibition.
Three cents plus a nickel from Clearwater
S
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Subj: 004 I wonder how long my comment will last at China Daily?
From: Herb <>
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2006 18:23:16 -0800
I wonder how long my comment will last at China Daily?
http://comment.chinadaily.com.cn/articlecmt.shtml?id=767347
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Subj: 005 US OH: OPED: We Have Lost Drug War
From: Allan Erickson <>
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 08:51:37 -0800
US OH: OPED: We Have Lost Drug War
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n1739/a02.html?397
Besides a great Oped, on the Repository's source page there is a
comments section and so far we are up 5 - 0...
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=3D326959&Category=3D14&subCatego
=3D
registration is required.
=E6=
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End of MAPTalk-Digest V06 #150
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