From: [w--li--h] at [ix.netcom.com](William House) Newsgroups: alt.activism.death-penalty,alt.activism,talk.politics.drugs,alt.christnet,soc.culture.african.american Subject: Historical Quotes opposing Prohibition. (Was: DP No Deterence. (Was: Death Penalty Facts disprove Irrational Vengeant Sadism) Date: 6 Apr 1996 16:16:42 GMT These Quotes and allot of Information Anti-Drug War From: http://sunsite.unc.edu/warstop/warstop.html End The Drug War! ------------------------- Famous and Infamous Quotes Famous Quotes Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things tha t are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded. Abraham Lincoln: Speech in the Illinois House of Representatives, Dec 18, 1840. Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigor of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind. Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776 If you say, "Would there were no wine" because of the drunkards, then you must say, going on by degrees, "Would there were no steel," because of the murderers, "Would there were no night," because of the thieves, "Would there were no light," because of the informers, and "Would there were no women," because of adultery. >St. John Chrysostom: Homilies, c. 388 The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind. Thomas Paine Prohibition only drives drunkenness behind doors and into dark places, and does not cure it, or even diminish it. Mark Twain: Letter from New York to the Alta Californian, May 28, 1867. Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. Mark Twain: Manuscript note, c.1882. I'd rather that England should be free than that England should be compulsorily sober. With freedom we might in the end attain sobriety, but in the other alternative we should eventually lose both freedom and sobriety. W.C. Magee (Archbishop of York): Sermon at Peterborough, 1868. There is no nonsense so arrant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action. Bertrand Russell: An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish. The passing of an unjust law is the suicide of authority. Pastoral Letter of the American Roman Catholic Herarchy, Feb., 1920 Power is sweet; it is a drug, the desire for which increases with a habit. Bertrand Russell: Saturday Review, 1951 While democracy must have its organizations and controls, its vital breath is individual liberty. Charles Evans Hughes: U.S. Supreme Court Member, May 1908. Liberty has never come from government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. Woodrow Wilson: Address, New York Press Club, May 9, 1912. Overall, he points out that, "prevention is cheaper than prison, education more valuable than enforcement, cure more effective than interdiction." Manhattan Federal Judge Robert Sweet "The view of "drug warriors" that people can only be controlled by force is contrary to the fundamental principles upon which this country was founded." Bryan J. Vila, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Criminology, Law and Society School of Social Ecology University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92717 The war on drugs has turned into a war on our people. We almost can't do it worse than we are today. There's got to be a better way. Judge JAMES GRAY, Orange County, California, Superior Court I think that the war on drugs is domestic Vietnam. And didn't we learn from Vietnam that, at a certain point in the war, we should stop and rethink our strategy, ask ``Why are we here, what are we doing, what's succeeded, what's failed?'' And we ought to do that with the domestic Vietnam, which is the war on drugs. Baltimore Mayor KURT SCHMOKE "60 % of most of our violent crimes are associated with alcohol or drug use. Many times they're robbing stealing, and all of these things to get money to buy drugs, and I do feel that we would markedly reduce our crime rate if drugs were legalized. But I don't know the ramifications of this and I do feel that we need to do some studies. In some of the countries that have legalized drugs, and made it legal, they certainly have shown that there has been a reduction in their crime rate, and there has been no increase in their drug use rate." Joclyn Elders If you think of yourself as a decent, rational person, and you support the war on drugs, then you are misinformed... either about the war or about your decency and rationality. Ray Aldridge: The WARSTOP pages, April, 1995. Infamous Quotes Propaganda must not serve the truth, especially as it might bring out something favorable for the opponent. Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf. It is necessary to be very intelligent in the work of repression. All opposition journals have been suppressed and all the anti-fascist organizations dissolved. Benito Mussolini: Speech, May 26, 1926. Humanitarianism is the expression of stupidity and cowardice. Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf. A great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far- reaching in purpose. Herbert C. Hoover: Speaking of Prohibition in a letter to William E. Borah, Feb. 28, 1928. Morality is the best of all devices for leading mankind by the nose. Friedrich Nietzsche: The Antichrist. The one means that wins the easiest victory over reason: terror and force. Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf. There is no need for propaganda to be rich in intellectual content. P.J. Goebbels: Speech at Nurnberg, Aug. 20, 1926. We hear about constitutional rights, free speech, and the free press. Every time I hear these words I say to myself, "That man is a Red, that man is a Communist. You never hear a real American talk like that." Frank Hague: N.Y. World-Telegram, April 2, 1938. These Quotes and allot of Information Anti-Drug War From: http://sunsite.unc.edu/warstop/warstop.html End The Drug War!