March 10, 1998

The Oklahoma Observer
P.O. Box 53371
Oklahoma City, OK 73152-3371.

AMERICA IS LOSING THE WAR ON DRUGS

"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government." - Thomas Jefferson.

So starts the 1997 National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS). (Ed. Note: Quoting Jefferson at the beginning of prohibitionist propaganda is a perfect example of  the term "Orwellian." Prohibitionism is a war on meaning.)

It continues, "Drug abuse and its consequences destroy personal liberty and the well-being of communities...illegal drugs foster crime and violence in our inner cities, suburbs, and rural areas."

It would be more accurate if the work "Prohibition" was substituted for "abuse" in the statement. It is the sale of illegal drugs and the huge profits that can be made because of the illegality that foster crime and violence.

This has been known since 1988 when Paul Goldstein, et al, studied murders committed in three months n New York City. More than half of all murders were drug related and of these 74 percent were related to the illegality of the drugs - disputes over territory, the quality of the drug sold or suspected cooperation with the police.

Less than 15 percent of drug-related murders were due to the effect of the intoxicant on the brain. Of the 31 murders in this category, 211 were due to alcohol alone and another three were committed by people who had used alcohol and cocaine. In two other cases, the victim, high on crack and obnoxious, was killed by a sober person. A young father high on crack killed his baby.

One must continue to ask whether some drugs are illegal because they are bad or they are bad because they are illegal.

DRUG RELATED DEATHS INCREASE

‘In 1995, 531,000 emergency room visits were attributed to drug use. Use of actaminophen, aspirin, and ibuprofen was mentioned in 75,000 of them. And 38 percent were due to suicide attempts. Many of the drug-related deaths were from overdoses of pharmaceutical drugs.

If the government was really concerned about protecting people from the adverse effects of drugs, they would prohibit the sale of alcohol and tobacco which together are responsible for a half million deaths each year. Of course, crime would rise dramatically, as was found when alcohol was prohibited.

Tobacco and alcohol use by pregnant women has adverse effects on the fetus. Tobacco use causes an increase in SIDS and miscarriages. It is estimated that 3700 children die by the age of one month because of complications from the mother’s smoking during pregnancy.

A Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey of 1313 pregnant women found that 3.5 percent admitted to having seven or more drinks a week or bingeing on five or more drinks at one setting within the previous month. Fetal alcohol syndrome is a leading cause of mental retardation.

The lack of governmental concern for its citizens is seen by the response to the medical marijuana propositions passed in Arizona and California. Ignoring the will of the people, the government says it will block the use of marijuana even for suffering people.

LEGITIMATE BUSINESS RAIDED

The DEA recently raided Flower Therapy in San Francisco. It had a business license, a million dollar insurance policy and had worked with the city health and police departments in order to be above reproach. Neither the mayor nor the chief of police had prior knowledge of the raid and were opposed to it. (Where were the State’s Rights proponents when we needed them?)

In 1996, the U.S. paid informers over $100 million. Informers are rewarded with up to 25 percent of the value of assets seized. The percentage of federal search warrants which relied on unidentified informants climbed from 24 percent in 1980 to 71 percent in 1993.

Long mandatory prison sentences for small amounts of drugs are common. Families are split up with detrimental effects to the children. Children who have had an incarcerated parent are five times more likely to serve prison sentences themselves.

In 1995, 582,000 people were arrested on marijuana charges, the majority for possession of small amounts. Newt Gingrich introduced legislation which garnered 26 co- sponsors that would have resulted in either a death sentence or one of life imprisonment for a second offender caught bringing as little as two ounces of marijuana into the country. Fortunately, it was never voted upon.

As been said, there are "lies, damned lies, and statistics." On page 13 of the 1997 NDCS it states, "According to a study conducted by Columbia University’s Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, children who smoke marijuana are 85 times more likely to use cocaine than peers who never tried marijuana.

BUT CHECK THIS REPORT

On page 23 of the 1995 NDCS are findings by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University:

- --Eighty nine percent of those who tried cocaine had fist used alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana.

- --Ninety percent of youth (ages 12 to 17) and adults who used marijuana had first smoked cigarettes or drank alcohol.

- --Youth who used the gateway drugs (alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana) were 266 times more likely to use cocaine than were youth who had never used a gateway drug.

One wonders why only marijuana was highlighted as the gateway drug to cocaine use in the 1997 NDCS. Did the Arizona and California propositions play a part?

The 1997 NDCS did state that alcohol is the drug most used by young people. Nearly 25 percent of high school sophomores and 33 percent of seniors reported having five or more drinks on a single occasion within the two weeks previous to being queried. In 1996, 7738 drunk drivers between the ages of 16 and 20 were fatally injured.

Even though AIDS is listed as the fastest growing cause of all illegal drug-related deaths, the federal government refuses to fund or promote needle exchange programs (NEPs).

In late 1993, the CDC, after consulting with four federal agencies, reviewed a 700-page report of lead researcher Peter Lurie and concluded, "Several findings strongly support the conclusion that NEPs reduce HIV transmission," and that "No data exists indicating increases related to NEPs in either drug use or in the number of discarded syringes." CDC asked for the ban on federal funding of NEPs be lifted but to no avail.