Fwd: [BRC-NEWS] Just Say No

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 01:04:54 -0400
>From: Salim Muwakkil <salim4x at aol.com>
>Subject: [BRC-NEWS] Just Say No
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>To: brc-news at lists.tao.ca
>X-Sender: Salim Muwakkil <salim4x at aol.com>
>X-WWW-Site: http://www.blackradicalcongress.org/
>
>http://www.inthesetimes.com/edit2416.html
>
>In These Times
>
>July 10, 2000
>
>Editorial
>
>Just Say No
>
>By Salim Muwakkil <salim4x at aol.com>
>
>If the House passes the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation
>Act, our constitutional rights, already wounded, will become
>yet another casualty in the long line of victims felled by
>the war on drugs. This insane crusade has fueled a bullet-
>soaked underground economy that has helped devastate large
>swaths of urban America, filled U.S. prisons with more
>inmates than anywhere on earth and deeply corrupted law
>enforcement.
>
>This collateral damage cannot be justified. The war has not
>moved us any closer toward a drug-free society. Just the
>opposite: Drugs are more available now (to younger children)
>than before the war's inception during the Nixon
>administration; drug deaths are up; prices for hard drugs
>are at historic lows; addicts seeking help still have few
>places to turn. These are the findings of "The War on Drugs:
>Addicted to Failure," a recent report by the Washington-
>based Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). This report, which
>compiles recommendations of a Citizens Commission on U.S.
>Drug Policy put together by the IPS, is just one of many
>that reveal the drug war's tragic failure.
>
>But none of this has deterred the dedicated drug warriors
>from their mindless offensive. Government officials and
>pandering politicians seem oblivious to the growing body of
>evidence that the paramilitary law enforcement model is just
>plain ineffective in addressing the problems of substance
>abuse. In fact, researchers are approaching a consensus that
>the combative approach only exacerbates the problem.
>
>The Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act explicitly
>sacrifices civil liberties for the cause of anti-drug
>warfare. The bill would make it a federal crime to teach
>or demonstrate how to make a controlled substance, or to
>distribute any information pertaining to the manufacture or
>use of a controlled substance. Although the bill is designed
>to prevent the transmission of online recipes for making
>meth, its provisions are so vague that they could outlaw
>virtually all speech about illegal drugs.
>
>Although seven states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine,
>Nevada, Oregon and Washington) and the District of Columbia
>have passed referenda allowing the use of medical marijuana,
>any discussion of marijuana cultivation or use for medical
>purposes also would be banned by the bill. Under the
>legislation, advertising drug paraphernalia, directly
>or indirectly, would become a federal crime. For example,
>e-mailing a friend the phone number or Web address of a head
>shop could be punishable by three years in federal prison.
>
>Just as ominously, the bill would allow federal agents to
>search people's homes without informing the owners. Now
>federal agents can search a home with a warrant, but they
>must inform the owner of their intent and reveal what they
>confiscated. But for the sake of the drug war, this Fourth
>Amendment protection would be wiped out. The government
>would never have to reveal what intangible items were taken
>(like items photographed or files copied from a computer
>hard drive). How can an improper search be challenged if
>the target is never informed?
>
>Meanwhile in the Senate, which already has passed its
>version of the bill, obtuse drug warriors are readying
>another assault on the Constitution. Florida Sen. Bob
>Graham has introduced legislation proposing similar
>measures for the drug ecstasy (MDMA), titled the Ecstasy
>Anti-Proliferation Act. Not only does this legislation
>inappropriately equate ecstasy with deadly meth, it
>reinforces the combat mentality that makes the war
>on drugs so disastrous.
>
>This hopeless strategy has filled our jails, corroded our
>culture and endangered our future. There are several steps
>we could take to craft more effective drug policies.
>Following European models, we could make drug treatment
>programs available to anyone who wants them, institute
>drug-maintenance programs, repeal mandatory-minimum
>penalties in drug cases and decriminalize marijuana,
>among other things. First, though, we must immediately
>end this destructive war.
>
>
>Salim Muwakkil is a senior editor of In These Times.
>
>Copyright (c) 2000 In These Times.
>
>
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