From: Jim Rosenfield <[j n r] at [igc.apc.org]>
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Date: 28 Oct 94 07:37 PDT
Subject: Re:  Interpol

From: Jim Rosenfield <jnr>

Head of Interpol advocates "drug" decriminalization

On Wednesday, June 8, the head of the international police agency
Interpol stated his support for decriminalizing drugs.

Raymond Kendall, secretary general of the International Criminal
Police Organization, responded to the British Police's call to
decriminalize drugs by saying, "I think we should accept the
reality of the situation... that there are many, many drug users
who are living in a situation of illegality already."

Kendall's comment touched on one of the main arguments for ending
Marijuana Prohibition, namely that prohibition is not preventing
or dissuading people from consuming cannabis.

Kendall also acknowledged that most British cannabis consumers are
not even being dealt with by the law, probably because (1) most
consumers go undetected by the law, and (2) many who are actually
caught by the police are not arrested.  This comment touches on
two more NORML tenets: (1) It is simply impossible to arrest and
incarcerate every marijuana consumer, and (2) marijuana's
illegality is causing widespread disrespect for the law and makes
police the citizens 'enemies'.

Many Supporters of Marijuana Prohibition repeatedly insist that
marijuana "legalization" will encourage people to use the drug.
The truth is that millions are already consuming cannabis in
complete disregard for the law.

... Civil Forfeiture is Government Theft

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 * Origin: Elan Data Systems (1:147/1011.12)