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RE: Off Topic: The Insane War on Drugs
Laura and others;
What this all says (Laura's message below) is that if we don't cease and
desist in this utterly insane "war on drugs" we'll take ourselves down with
it. I wonder what it will take for Americans to wake up on that?! All this
crap could be ended so quick and easily. Just legalize drugs and be done
with it. These do-gooders need to just leave people the hell alone to live
their own lives, and quit trying to tell everybody what they can eat, drink
or inject. Let people be responsible for themselves. Let parents be
responsible for their children. Most of them are.
Here is message from someone on another list. I thought it was pretty
good. Have a look at these numbers...
The 1996 figures on causes of death
in America. Take a look at this:
[WAR ON DRUGS?]: LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH IN THE USA IN 1996
LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH in the USA in 1996 (unless marked otherwise).
According to the Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Health
Statistics, and the Journal of American Medical Association (for adverse
drug reactions death numbers; April 14, 1998 issue of JAMA; 279: 1200-
1205, 1998).
**********
LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH in the USA in 1996:
(unless year marked otherwise)
Total deaths........................................... 2,322,265
____________________________________________
1. Heart Disease....................................... 733,834
2. Cancer.............................................. 544,278
3. Stroke.............................................. 160,431
4. Adverse Drug Reactions (1994) from legal drugs at doses used for
prevention, diagnosis, or therapy.... 106,000*
* (see table below)
5. Pulmonary disease................................ 106,146
6. Accidents............................................ 93,874
7. Pneumonia/influenza............................... 82,579
8. Diabetes............................................. 61,559
9. HIV/AIDS............................................ 32,665
10. Suicide.............................................. 30,862
11. Liver disease........................................ 25,135
14. Homicide............................................. 20,738
ILLICIT DRUG OVERDOSE.............................3,800 to 5,200
(Deliberate or accidental) from all illegal drugs.
Got that? By the most accurate estimate, 5,200 people died as a result
of illegal drug use in that year. No you are not mistaken or misled by
these figures. 106,000 people died from adverse reactions to legal
drugs!
Okay, I will admit that there are innumerable, non-death related
problems associated with illegal drug use. I will stipulate to that.
People become disabled and indigent as a result of illegal drug use, but
look at the figure for liver disease: 25,135, and a substantial portion
of that is due to "legal" alcoholism. And how many of those who
committed suicide, 30,862, were under the influence of alcohol when they
offed themselves?
I want to ask you this simple question: Are illegal drugs difficult to
obtain today? And are illegal drugs more difficult to obtain now than
they were when the War On Drugs commenced? The answer is a resounding
NO.
People, the War On Drugs is a big fat, government sponsored LIE. There
are no success stories associated with it, yet otherwise intelligent,
well-intentioned people continue to support the WOD! The WOD is an
abject failure. If there are just as many illegal drugs available for
sale right now, and that fact is undisputed, how can anyone refute the
fact that the WOD has had no effect on illegal drug use or availability?
Illegal drug dealing is a success only because it is illegal: Did you
ever consider that possibility?
The very same people who support the WOD are the same geniuses who will
admit that Prohibition was a mistake, but that the WOD is not. What's
the diff? You ban something, and you open up a black market for it; and
a lucrative black market, at that. You ban guns, and a black market
will open for them. You ban aspirin, and a black market opens for
aspirin. What in the hell is the matter with the minds of Americans?
If you want to kill something, you'd better know from whence it derives
it's life, isn't that true? And if something derives it's life from the
fact it has been branded as illegal, what is the next logical step?
No! You do not pull law-enforcers off the illegal drug dealers and let
them have their way. We all know that would be stupid. What you do, is
you make the illegal drug business unprofitable. You put these street
hustlers out of business. And how do you do that? You allow the legal
sales of these substances through licensed pharmacies at 15% over cost.
No advertising allowed. If someone decides today is the day he becomes
a drug user, let him! And when he buys those drugs over the counter,
have him sign a release that says if he becomes ill, indigent or
disabled as a result of his drug use, he will not be eligible for any
form of social welfare or social medical benefits. He'll die in the
gutter if he gets into trouble. So let him. Let's roll out the camera
crew and record his last moments in the ditch, and then show that
footage to the students in our public schools. You want effective drug
education? That's the way to do it.
And what is the outcome? You have a society of people who consider
illegal drug use to be about as bright as legal cyanide use.
Few people recognize the fact there are no "self-starters" in drug
abuse. Illegal dealers, motivated by a profit motive, get others to try
their wares through free samples, often at social gatherings where
alcohol dims judgment and where peer pressure completely wipes out the
influence of government sponsored programs like "Just Say No". If the
same pigeon knows he can purchase purer substances from the local
pharmacy, why would he buy lesser quality substances from this predator
at the party? That's how you kill the illegal drug trade, my friends.
In fact, that is the ONLY way.
*****************************************
Take care all.
--Greg
On Monday, February 22, 1999 1:40 PM, Laura Walker
[SMTP:LJW6626@worldnet.att.net] wrote:
> Margaret --
>
> I read that NYC was going to institute this law beginning in January; I
> wondered, at the time, about how far we are moving to a police state.
Given
> some of the recent articles I've read (e.g., cops in Florida are adding
> sophisticated "James Bond" like technology to their state patrol cars to
> apprehend automobiles and drivers suspected of running drug rings).
> Apparently, drug thugs are using this new tech-nology to alert/signal
their
> dealers on the highway, in order to transfer the product, so cops are
> stepping up their efforts in this regard.
>
> I've also read and heard about new driver's license laws (D.C. for one)
that
> require every person who must take the written and driver's exam to
answer
> specific questions about a) their previous history of mental health
(e.g.,
> do they take antidepressants or other such drugs), and b) questions about
> former problems with alcohol and/or drugs. That people just go along
with
> this -- either lying or answering without questioning -- boggles the
mind!
>
> I said to a friend the other day that the biggest challenge we are facing
> well into the next century is the entire magilla of privacy. Every-time
I
> turn around, there are new technologies being developed (e.g., the
cop/drug
> thugs "Bond" cars) that have the potential for such abuse by the
> companies/agencies developing and using it, that it's truly Orwellian in
> nature.
>
> My feeling is that what we read and hear about is simply the tip of a
VERY
> BIG iceberg. My guess is that corporations and government agencies have
> been involved in developing such technology for years (witness the CIA's
> covert use of national driver's license registration programs).
>
> I hope to spend more time on some of these issues soon, especially since
> they just keep cropping up -- like bushels of bad apples...
>
> Laura