Pubdate: Wed, 27 Feb 2002
Source: Savannah Morning News (GA)
Copyright: 2002 Savannah Morning News
Contact:  http://www.savannahnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/401
Author: Alan Randell
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n336/a09.html

AS AMERICAN, HE SAYS HE HAS RIGHT TO PARTAKE IN ANY DRUG HE DEEMS RIGHT

In reference to your Feb. 26 editorial, "Don't gut drug squad," I have a 
few questions concerning your evident support of drug prohibition.

Do you agree with the words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness" taken from the Declaration of Independence?

Doesn't that imply that people have the right to ingest any drug in pursuit 
of their particular version of happiness, however harmful, so long as they 
physically harm no one else?

Is it not true that if drugs were legalized the flow of funds to terrorist 
groups would dry up? How much money does Osama bin Laden make from booze 
and tobacco?

If drugs are banned because they are harmful to users, why, then, are 
tobacco and alcohol not banned? Is it not true that banning a drug harms 
users because it forces them to rely on a drug whose potency and purity are 
unknown? ?

Drug prohibition is nothing less than a state-sanctioned pogrom directed 
against an identifiable minority (innocent drug users and distributors) to 
ostracize and annihilate them.

ALAN RANDELL
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