Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: [Floyd Landrath] at [f69.n105.z1.fidonet.org] (Floyd Landrath)
Subject: ANTI-PROHIBITION POSITION
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1993 10:05:33 GMT

                                      
                       AMERICAN ANTI-PROHIBITION LEAGUE
                       4017 SE BELMONT STREET, BOX 103
                        PORTLAND  OREGON  U.S.A. 97214
                               (503)235-4524

                      FLOYD FERRIS LANDRATH -- DIRECTOR

"Prohibition ... strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our
government was founded." - Abraham Lincoln

                   THE ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST'S BASIC POSITION

   The anti-prohibitionist promotes the American ideal of maximum
individual freedom and responsibility.  Anti-prohibitionists believe in
the "common law" and an adult's right to privacy; to engage in any
peaceful, private or consensual activity that does not violate anyone
else's rights or property.  Anti-prohibitionists say moderate and 
responsible drug use is normal, not immoral.

                    DRUGS & PROHIBITION, AS EASY AS 1-2-3

1)   Most "drugs" (usually raw vegetable matter) are natural to the
environment.  Their use and cultivation predates recorded history.

2)   Throughout recorded history, psycho-active drugs have been 
intimately connected to the world's religions, medicines, economies and
cultures.

3)   Throughout modern history, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and
specific psycho-active drugs such as: cannabis, coca, opium, etc., have
become the target of various prohibitions and eradication efforts.
Yet, since public demand for the prohibited substances persist, profit
motive has spurred the creation and empowerment of vast underground
networks of manufacturers, growers, processors, traffickers, dealers, 
street gangs and even mercenary armies.

                   THE TWO CENTRAL QUESTIONS WE MUST ASK

   Do current policies reduce the public health and safety problems
associated with illicit "drug use"?

   Do current policies increase the crime, violence, and corruption
associated with the illicit "drug market"?

   Our opinion: No, cureent policies do not reduce the problems
normally associated with drug use.  Yes, current policies do increase
those, as well as other "evils of prohibition".

   Our criminal justice system is on the verge of collapse.  Public
faith and respect for it are at all-time lows.  This well-intended, yet
seriously flawed, "drug war", has become one of the most serious
challenges to personal liberty, safety and property since the
Revolution.

   The $40 billion-a-year prison industry is growing so fast that
the Brookings Institution, estimates, at the present rate of
incarceration, by the year 2051, the number of prisoners will equal the
number of "fee" people.  And, according to "Harpers Index", the value
of property seized under federal asset-forfeiture laws has increased
over 5,500 per cent since 1979.

   The institutional racism of this "war" is obvious in the
disproportionate impact upon minorities and their communities.  Even
though the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports overall drug
us is down since a late 1970s peak, drug-related overdose deaths, 
injuries and HIV/AIDS are up, dramatically.

                 WHAT'S AN ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST TO DO?

   First and foremost, generate discussion.  Find people (and
candidates) willing to talk about solutions.  Do not settle for canned
information that supports trite solutions.  Ask the tough questions,
demand truth and sincerity over hype and hysteria.

   Support or start an "Anti-Prohibition" group.  Be it political, 
educational or mainly social keep talking about the issues.  Build
support groups, join coalitions (like the Anti-Prohibition League), Get
active, there is a "movement" out there.  It's just waiting for you.