From: [m--th--e] at [usa.net] (Matt Hine)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,alt.drugs.culture,alt.activism,alt.christnet,alt.conspiracy,alt.psychology,alt.recovery,alt.religion
Subject: Arguments for drug legalization.
Date: 19 Nov 1995 21:15:51 GMT

Libertarians, like most Americans, demand to be safe at home and on the
streets. Libertarians would like all Americans to be healthy and free of
drug dependence. But drug laws don't help, they make things worse.

The professional politicians scramble to make names for themselves as 
tough anti-drug warriors, while the experts agree that the "war on drugs" 
has been lost, and could never be won. The tragic victims of that war are 
your personal liberty and its companion, responsibility. It's time to 
consider the re-legalization of drugs.

The Lessons of Prohibition

In the 1920's, alcohol was made illegal by Prohibition. The result:
Organized Crime. Criminals jumped at the chance to supply the demand for
liquor. The streets became battlegrounds. The criminals bought off law
enforcement and judges. Adulterated booze blinded and killed people. 
Civil rights were trampled in the hopeless attempt to keep people from 
drinking.

When the American people saw what Prohibition was doing to them, they
supported its repeal. When they succeeded, most states legalized liquor 
and the criminal gangs were out of the liquor business.

Today's war on drugs is a re-run of Prohibition. Approximately 40 million
Americans are occasional, peaceful users of some illegal drug who are no
threat to anyone. They are not going to stop. The laws don't, and can't,
stop drug use.

Organized Crime Profits

Whenever there is a great demand for a product and government makes it
illegal, a black market always appears to supply the demand. The price of
the product rises dramatically and the opportunity for huge profits is
obvious. The criminal gangs love the situation, making millions. They 
kill other drug dealers, along with innocent people caught in the 
crossfire, to protect their territory. They corrupt police and courts. 
Pushers sell adulterated dope and experimental drugs, causing injury and 
death. And because drugs are illegal, their victims have no recourse.

Crime Increases

Half the cost of law enforcement and prisons is squandered on drug 
related crime. Of all drug users, a relative few are addicts who commit 
crimes daily to supply artificially expensive habits. They are the 
robbers, car thieves and burglars who make our homes and streets unsafe.

An American Police State

Civil liberties suffer. We are all "suspects", subject to random urine
tests, highway check points and spying into our personal finances. Your
property can be seized without trial, if the police merely claim you got 
it with drug profits. Doing business with cash makes you a suspect. 
America is becoming a police state because of the war on drugs.

America Can Handle Legal Drugs

Today's illegal drugs were legal before 1914. Cocaine was even found in 
the original Coca-Cola recipe. Americans had few problems with cocaine, 
opium, heroin or marijuana. Drugs were inexpensive; crime was low. Most 
users handled their drug of choice and lived normal, productive lives. 
Addicts out of control were a tiny minority.

The first laws prohibiting drugs were racist in origin -- to prevent
Chinese laborers from using opium and to prevent blacks and Hispanics 
from using cocaine and marijuana. That was unjust and unfair, just as it 
is unjust and unfair to make criminals of peaceful drug users today.

Some Americans will always use alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or other 
drugs. Most are not addicts, they are social drinkers or occasional 
users. Legal drugs would be inexpensive, so even addicts could support 
their habits with honest work, rather than by crime. Organized crime 
would be deprived of its profits. The police could return to protecting 
us from real criminals; and there would be room enough in existing 
prisons for them.

Try Personal Responsibility

It's time to re-legalize drugs and let people take responsibility for
themselves. Drug abuse is a tragedy and a sickness. Criminal laws only
drive the problem underground and put money in the pockets of the 
criminal class. With drugs legal, compassionate people could do more to 
educate and rehabilitate drug users who seek help. Drugs should be legal. 
Individuals have the right to decide for themselves what to put in their 
bodies, so long as they take responsibility for their actions.

From the Mayor of Baltimore, Kurt Schmoke, to conservative writer and TV
personality, William F. Buckley, Jr., leading Americans are now calling 
for repeal of America's repressive and ineffective drug laws. The 
Libertarian Party urges you to join in this effort to make our streets 
safer and our liberties more secure.

800-682-1776