From: [m b tst 3] at [pitt.edu] (Michael B Tierney)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,alt.hemp
Subject: DPF poster
Date: 17 Mar 1994 03:08:09 GMT

Greetings!
	Below is the text of a poster put out by the Drug Policy
Foundation.  The section listing the board of directors was originally a
large list of people, but it was done in a tiny font that wouldn't scan
for anything, so I just pieced in the board of directors taken from the
DPF pamphlet.
	Once again, this is a beta version, spelling errors or whatever
send to me.  Thanks and enjoy!
-me

THE DRUG WAR:

Q: WILL THE NEXT $150 BILLION MAKE YOU SAFER?

A: Not if we spend it on the same old strategy.

Since 1981, well over 150 billion of our tax dollars have gone to fight the
war on illegal drugs. Annual spending has grown so fast that the next $150
billion will be spent by 1997.

But if we do not change our basic drug strategy, it is unlikely we will be any
safer. Current drug policies cannot deal with the excess crime, violence and
disease caused by drug prohibition.

* FACT: According to FBI data, 1 out of 3 robberies and burglaries is
committed to obtain money for high-priced, black market drugs.

* FACT: Up to 40 percent of the murders in major cities and 20 percent of the
killings nationwide occur in the drug trade.  Innocent children and police
officers are often caught in the crossfire.

* FACT: 1 out of 3 U.S. AIDS cases is traceable to the sharing of infected
needles by drug users.  Criminalizing these users and prohibiting access to
clean needles worsens the deadly AIDS epidemic.

These are just a few of the costs and consequences of maintaining strict drug
prohibition policies. This great nation can do better. With less waste. With
more success dealing with hard-core users. And without fueling a war in our
cities.

Full legalization is not the only alternative. Different policies might make
sense for different drugs. Many options are available, including
decriminalizing users only, permitting doctors to prescribe some drugs to
addicts to undercut the black market, borrowing elements of the European
public health model, or shifting the allocation of anti-drug resources to
focus mainly on treatment and prevention rather than drug law enforcement.

No one can claim to know precisely what is best--not legalization advocates,
not prohibition's partisans. We all share concern over the problems caused by
drug abuse in our society, but we must also concern ourselves with the harm
caused by our policies.The question of pursuing alternatives must be fully and
realistically investigated and debated.

What we cannot do is sit idly by while our nation continues to pursue
misguided drug policies. Much like alcohol prohibition did, our modern
prohibition:

* Enriches Gangsters.  At least $40 billion each year goes to the criminal
underworld as proceeds from drug sales.

* Endangers and corrupts police.  Police officers risk their lives enforcing
prohibition - but each drug dealer caught is immediately replaced.  Drug
profits have tempted too many public servants to become criminals themselves.

* Fails to protect our children.  Banned drugs are often easier for our kids
to get than regulated drugs like alcohol and tobacco.  Pushers have a
financial incentive to draw children into the drug trade and to initiate them
into drug use.

As a candidate for president, Bill Clinton defined insanity as "doing the same
thing over and over again and expecting a different result." Despite some
recent, commendable shifts in strategy, that is what our nation is doing now
in drug policy.

It's time for change.

The Drug Policy Foundation

Drug Policy Foundation Board of Directors: President Arnold S. Trebach, J.D.,
Ph.D.; Vice President Kevin B. Zeese, Esq. Secretary-Treasurer Marjorie A.
Rosner; Geraldine Barrett
Washington;lraGlasser,A.C.L.U.,NewYork;PatrickV.Murphy, N.Y. Police Department
Commissioner (ret.), Washington, D.C.; Wesley C. Pomeroy, Independent Review
Panel, Dade County, Fla.; Joanne Sgro, Esq., Washington; Ronald Sinoway, Esq.,
Phillipsville, Calif. Board of Advisors: Chairman Richard J. Dennis; Barry
Beyerstein, Ph.D., Simon Fraser Univ., Canada; David D. Boaz, Cato Inst.,
Washington; Anthony Burton, Esq., Drug Policy Fdn. U.K.; Richard C. Cowan,
N.O.R.M.L., Wash- ington, Luigi Del Gatto, M.D., Intl. Anti-Prohibitionist
League, Italy; Patricia Erickson, Ph.D., Addiction Research Fdn., Canada;
Lester Grinspoon, M.D., Harvard Medical School; Jane Hendtlass, Ph.D., Rodie
Research, Australia; Rufus King, Esq., Washington; Frederick H. Meyers, M.D.,
Univ. of Calif., San Francisco; John P. Morgan, M.D., City Univ. of N.Y.
Medical School; Ethan Nadelmann, J.D., Ph.D., Princeton Univ.; Craig
Reinarman, Ph.D., Univ. of Calif., Santa Cruz; Marsha Rosenbaum, Ph.D., Inst.
forScientificAnalysis, San Francisco; Frits ROter, Prof. Dr., Univ. of
Amsterdam; Carl Sagan, Ph.D., Cornell Univ., Ralph Salerno, N.Y. Police Dept.
(ret.), Lake Ariel, Pa.; The Hon. Kurt L. Schmoke, Mayor, Baltimore, Md.; Alan
Silber, Esq., New York; Michael Stepanian, Esq., Haight- Ashbury Free Clinic
San Francisco; Thomas Szasz, M.D., State Univ. of N.Y., Syracuse; Carole
Tongue, European Parlia- ment, U.K.; Grant Wardlaw, Ph.D., Australian Inst. of
Criminology, Andrew Weil, M.D., Univ. of Arizona; Steven Wisotsky, Esq, Nova
Univ. Law Center, Fla.; Alex Wodak, M.D., St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney,
Australia

The Drug Policy Foundatlon is a non-profit organlzation that promotes open
debate on drug pollcy and provides Information on alternatives. Though some of
its members support drug legalization, the Foundation takes no position on
that issue.

The focus of the Foundation's work -- in conferences, publications and
television productions -- is public education. With your financial support,
the Foundation can expand its public education campaign--including running
more ads like thls one.

We neither seek nor accept government funding. Without the generosity of
concerned citizens and private foundations, our work would be impossible. If
you agree that reform of drug policy is important, we need your support.
Contributions to the Drug Policy Foundatlon are tax deductlble. Members
receive our bi-monthly journal, The Drug Policy Letter.

To promote debate yourself, send copies of this advertisement to President
Clinton and your other elected representatives. Get involved! 



--
Mike Tierney    "..only here did the human soul in a higher sense
[m b t] at [pitt.edu]    acquire depth and become evil - and these are the
[m b tst 3] at [pitt.edu] two basic respects in which man has hitherto been
CIS:70604,1512  superior to other beasts!" - Nietzsche