Pubdate: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 Source: Medford Mail Tribune (OR) Copyright: 2001 The Mail Tribune Contact: PO Box 1108, Medford OR 97501 Fax: (541) 776-4376 Website: http://www.mailtribune.com/ Forum: http://www.mailtribune.com/speak_out/ Author: Hap Haptonstall DRUG WAR A LOSER If you're over 35, your parents and grandparents knew that Prohibition was a losing battle. But it took the government about 13 years to get the message. By then the outlaws had made their millions, bought politicians, infiltrated unions, laundered money into legitimate business, etc. In fact, that's where the Mafia and the big crime families got their start. Because money ran like water into their syndicates, and money buys power. How long till our government gets the message that this ill-fated drug policy is a losing battle, too? How many warning signs do they need? This War on Drugs makes Prohibition look like child's play. Our country has gone through enough hell with this ill-conceived law. We need a grass-roots movement that would compel our government to get real and face reality. No more Vietnam B.S. We wanted to believe that LBJ and Richard Nixon were telling us the truth. Oh, how wrong we were to believe them. We may be slow to learn, but the B.S. spouted by our government regarding how we are winning the War on Drugs is just B.S. If we wait for Congress to make the needed changes on their own, it will never happen. What we need is action. Got any suggestions? Let's hear them. Hap Haptonstall, Talent - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk