wow, badger herald columnists writing to one another yawn

Well argued. I’d offer you a line in celebration, but…

You’re completely right.

But I’m sick of drunk drivers, babies with fetal alcohol syndrome, and obnoxious undergrads. Might as well make alcohol illegal.

When children are born into poor families, they already fall behind in life. That’s not fair, so I think we should also make poverty illegal.

It’s just part of making us into subjects (maybe slaves) instead of citizens.

I just can’t help thinking that if we would have spent the money on drug education instead of throwing people in jail for smoking a joint, that people would have their freedom and the US wouldn’t have this huge drug problem.

The constitution guarantees the right to the pursuit of life , liberty & happiness. No where is it granted that the government has a right to invade these rights. As long a no one else is hurt by what a citizen does. Then, the goverment is not allowed to interfere. Our government has so severely eroded our rights over time. That people have come to believe that the constitution must some how allow this. It does not. If a person injures another, then we have courts for that. Have you studied the 1st drug war? It was called alcohol prohibition. Congess even made an amendment to the constitution to allow for it. It was a horrendous failure. All it did was create demand for the forbidden fruit & lead to the rise of national organized crime syndicates. So, the amendment was repealed & the war was ended with alcohol legalization. Now, we have the 2nd drug war without a Constitutional Amendment to allow for it. So, the 2nd drug war/prohibition is not constitutionally legal. Our forefathers would be p.o.’d by this breach. Abraham Lincoln was against laws of prohibitions. Because, “it attempts to control a man’s appetites by legislation” & “it makes crimes out of things that are not crimes.”-A.L. Pres. George Washington grew Hemp & Cannabis Indica. Indica was used for medicinal purposes. So, he possibly used it for tooth ache pain. “Tastes can not be controlled by law”-Pres. Thomas Jefferson. He grew Hemp. Two U.S. Presidents openly used Cocaine prior to prohibition. Successful politions & middle-class Americans have & occassionally do use prohibited substances, and without ruin to themselves or harm to others. The latest figures from the U.S. Government show that addiction from 1st time use of all but herion is low. The drug laws are unconstitutional. Born of racism to punish minorities. Forced through by the Hispanic hating William Randolph Hearst & his yellow journalism. (the same man who forced the Spanish-American war through lies). Based on fear & lies. In 1937 the AMA’s Dr. Woodward berated Harry Anlinger for saying that the AMA was supportive of his stand on Marijuana. Because, they had not spoken out on the issue. The commitee in question shouted the Doctor down. Hence, racist, made-up Hearst newspaper articles were read into the congressional records as fact. This was their only evidence against marijuana & hemp. The sole (so called) expert testimony came from Harry Anslinger who based nothing on imperical evidence. Hence, fear mongering propaganda won out over the opportunity for peer reviewed scientific studies. Known as fact. The comittee went to the house floor were a comittee member lied by saying that the AMA supported this tax act 100%. Not even the congress knew what this new legislation was. Because, the words cannabis & hemp which people knew about was changed to the alien scary word marijuana. Hemp & cannabis had been used successfully in the U.S.A. without negative incident for almost 200 years. But, the deception & lies won out & the 1937 marijuana tax act put cannabis & hemp growers out of business. The Federal government conviently made hemp growing legal in the interest national security during WWII. Then it was back to being illegal after the war. So much for drug enforcement when convenient. The government has continually upgraded these illegal laws with ever more Draconian laws. When the old, racist propaganda became unpalatable over time. See how public opinion can make a difference? So, new lies were propagated. Every time these lies are caught out by scientific proof. which the goverment supresses. New lies are created to take the place of old, failed lies. Illegal laws made by lies, re-inforced by lies upon lies. This is how the government broke the social contract. When people found out how benign marijuana really is. They realized that the government had lied & could not be trusted. This had the unintended consequence of marijuana seekers being exposed to hard core drugs. Had the government lied about these too? Why not try them? The drug dealers always try to create repeat customers through addiction. So, at first the drugs may even be free. This all happens because the goverment abdicated the powers of true control of drugs over to criminals. Marijuana use will continue to climb. Because, people do not consent to be governed by these unjust, unconstitutional laws. This is society’s answer to the goverments breach of the constitution, & the breaking of the social contrat. We have more people in prison that any country in the world. 1 million for non-violent drug offenses alone. The cost of all this to the tax payers is $50 Billion per year. The violence these laws have spawned has lead to a war in our streets far more deadly than the Vietnam & Iraq wars combined. To repeal these laws is the only answer. Because, people will use drugs no matter what the law says. Legalize drugs & regain control over quality, quantity & distribution. Dispense drugs under controlled environments. Tax them. Keep the cost so low that it drives Organized crime out of business. Free non-violent drug offenders. Give them jobs. Give the relatively few addicts treatment with compassion. It costs 1/10 as much to treat true drug addicts as to jail them. It costs 1/6th as much to school as to incarcerate. We’re building prisons at the expense of building schools. Grow Hemp for prosperity. Re-direct all those mispent funds into education & jobs. Give people & our country opportunities to prosper with Hemp. Otherwise, we’ll pay a far greater price when all these marginalized Prison (colleges for crime) educated people get out & can’t find work. See, how all the lies have made such a monstrous mess? What do I base all this on? Past history such as with the alcohol prohibition. Peer reviewed medical & socialogical studies. Government facts such as the NIDA chart that shows that the risk of marijuana addiction is far lower than alcohol or tobacco. The U. S. goverment admits that marijuana can not cause overdose death. That marijuana is safer than many foods we eat. That table salt is 10 times more dangerous than marijuana. The U.S, goverment made marijuana a schedule 1 drug with no mecininal value. There are so many peer reviewed medical studies support the use of marijuana of ailments that I can’t begin to list them. Almost 50 American Medical Asssociations either support the use of medical marijuana or call for further research into it’s potential uses. And, yet the U.S. Government steadfastly maintains that marijuana has no medicianal value. Also, as to safety. Marijuana can be used with vaporizers to make it extremely safe to inhale. So, where’s the compassion for those who needlessly suffer when we have a far safer herb than many pharmaceuticals? Marijuana can be grown at home for cheap by impoverished medical patients. Medical marijuana patients have proven able to correctly dose themselves for their ailments. Hemp which is also illegal, has no drug value. Hemp could compete directly with many big corporate products such as oil, ethanol, food, plastics, etc. But, it too was made illegal by these groups who didn’t want the competition. Hemp can be grown on soils that will not support many crops. It could end our foreign oil dependency. Hemp like corn can be made into ethanol. Hemp barely depletes the soil like Corn does. Corn used for ethanol production drives up food prices. Hemp could be made into ethanol without raising food prices. What an incredible shame that our opportunity for prosperity was traded for mass destruction. Why can’t people recreate & relax in the way they wish as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else? We have courts to deal with people who truly do hurt people with their misuse of drugs. Atleast 23 Federal Judges support changing the drug laws or even support drug legalization outright. The Federal Goverment has tried to suppress much of this information. Why? Well, it’s hard for them to admit that they’ve been lying all along. That they betrayed the public trust. That legalization would put a lot of federal employees out of business. Like the NIDA, DEA, Bureau of Prisons, & on & on. Then we have the local Police Agencies who’s jobs are threatened by legalization. Less need for policing & they might be freed up to catch murderers, rapists & other violent criminals. Sounds scary to face hard targets instead of soft targets. like a non-violent possesor of marijuana. Also, the politicians wouldn’t be continuing to support their corporate sponsors who want drugs to remain illegal. “Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”- Pres., Geo. Washington. And, what constitutional law allows for asset seizure? The legal system itself is hooked on this source of income. This mess is endless. Tear down this tyrannical system that daily erodes our civil rights. Before it’s too late. The 2nd drug war is a complete & disastrous failure. Don’t spend another penny on this thing that is punitive, vindictive & hardens the hearts of all men. Write to your politicians. Require an end now. Vote carefully for your representatives. Let them all know that you are watching them. That they will be fired if they don’t follow the harmonious will of the people. Research all these matters. A well informed electorate is vital to the health of our nation. Become an activist for drug peace. Demand an end to this phony war. Violence begets violence. End it now.

Social ills caused by drugs are worse/equal/better than ills caused by alcohol?

Personally, “rights” are allowable if they do not harm, affect others. Stealing the car to buy heroine and stealing a car for joy-riding are both just grand theft auto.

Crime is crime. In isolation, doing drugs is not a crime.

Granias, what a self-satisfied, condescending cunt you are. Buth you and Szarzynski are so far up your own asses. Is there no such thing as moderation? Both of your articles sucked, and why are you using the Op/Ed page for your mindless correspondence?

Easy, hippies. How bored would you be if what you were doing wasn’t illegal? Seriously.

I know you didn’t find time in this during your Nancy Reagan talking points, but US drug policy during the last few decades has driven the price of marijuana through the roof while severely dropping the price of cocaine.

While I don’t agree with all of Kyle Syrzaynshaiwjs’s points, your article could have been lifted from prohibition era rhetoric.

I loved your fear mongering opening diatribe - slavery and rape! Perhaps your too dense to see that those cases are instances of the powerful members of society (white slave holders and men) taking away fundamental rights of individuals. Then, you go on a rampage to say that the government should continue to persecute individuals who choose to inbibe certain substances.

You say, “It does not take a doctorate in sociology to realize that it is the drug lords, not the government, whose intention it is to suppress the downtrodden for their own gain when it comes to the business of lethal drugs.”

Interesting… So was it the drug lords that made the punishment of possession of crack cocaine five times more harsh than the possession of powder cocaine? I’m sure you know, as you play the poverty harp to no end in this piece, that crack is generally associated with the less affluent, while powder is enjoyed by the more affluent. Furthermore, you seem to suggest that alcoholism doesn’t fuel this cycle of poverty as well. Drunk driving is a much bigger problem in this state than illicit drugs. Maybe, as you say, we have “a societal obligation to intervene.” Let’s make booze illegal!

You also failed to mention that prescribed drugs are the 4th leading cause of death in this country - where is the outrage?

“So tell me, Mr. Szarzynski, if you are a child born to a cocaine addict, without the structures of support in place that are fundamental to success in school, have not your legal rights been violated from the very beginning of your existence?”

The same debate could be made for alcohol, or gambling for that matter. Should they be illegal? If you’re born to someone without money you’re at a disadvantage - maybe we should outlaw poverty. If there is obesity in your genes you’re at a disadvantage. Could I go on - yes. But, I’ll treat you like the college student you are and assume you’ve got the point. Furthermore, I like the condescending way you addressed ‘Mr. Szarzynski’ with your Limbaugh-esque scenario. Damn, you’re a supercilious asshole. Too bad your logic and writing skills can’t match your opinion of yourself. Bitch.

Things aren’t so black-and-white, dumbass.Next time Kyle writes a stupid article why don’t you have this discussion in your office instead of subjecting all of us to your absurd ramblings.

While we are on the subject of “rights” let’s give Andy a little education in the topic of rights and drugs.

Even the people who wrote the drug laws agreed that the Federal Government had no power to prohibit drugs. That is why they wrote the original laws as “tax acts”. That is, instead of outright prohibition of the drugs, they placed a tax on them and then made the tax so high that no one would pay it. Then, when they arrested someone with drugs, they would charge them with a “tax violation”, not possession of the drugs.

In short, they did an end run around the Constitution. It is doubtful if any member of Congress realized that the “tax” law would later be regarded as a general prohibition. If they had (and if it hadn’t been for some rather extreme propaganda about drugs), they almost certainly would have voted it down, because they had rejected a similar measure without the tax just four years earlier.

That “tax” scheme was struck down as unconstitutional in 1969 in the case of Timothy Leary v. US. It was then replaced with the Controlled Substances Act, which was based on the Interstate Commerce Clause. That idea has now been stretched so much in the case of Raich v. Gonzales that there is literally nothing beyond the reach of the Federal Government laws — which undoubtedly has our founding fathers spinning in their graves.

But why is the right to take drugs irrelevant? Because it doesn’t matter one bit. You could have a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to take drugs and prohibition wouldn’t be affected one bit.

Why? Because you may have a right to take drugs, but nobody has a right to produce or sell anything they want. You see, just like under the old “tax” act, the crime does not occur when someone takes drugs. It occurs when they acquire them — whether they eventually took them or not.

Likewise, they could ban guns even though the Second Amendment explicitly protects the right to keep and bear arms. You may have the right to keep and bear arms, but nowhere does it say that anyone has the right to make or sell guns. If it is illegal to make them or sell them, then the right to possess or use them is a moot point, at best.

So, Andy, you missed the point (rights are irrelevant) and you apparently didn’t attend the kind of classes that are now taught routinely in high schools in California.

Get back to us when you have done your homework and can discuss the subject with some degree of intelligence.