Prosecutors are urged to fight against legalizing drugs like marijuana

Standard Democrat(Mississippi) | 12/29/02 | Scott Welton

[Sparta]

Job protection at its worst.

[ActionNewsBill]

“Those who support drug legalization criminalization are well funded and highly adept at manipulating the media,” reads a Nov. 1 letter to prosecutors from the president of the National District Attorneys Association, Dan M. Alsobrooks. “And they do not mind deceiving the American public as well.”

Must have been a typo there.

[FreePaul]

The hysteria is ratcheted up a notch with the threat of job loss. The possibility of easy convictions is a real career breaker.

[thepitts]

. “And they do not mind deceiving the American public as well.”

This, from a lawyer.

[ActionNewsBill]

Included with the letter was an open letter also dated Nov. 1 from Scott M. Burns, deputy director for state and local affairs for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, urging prosecutors “to take a stand publicly and tell Americans the truth” about marijuana...

Yeah, I'd like to see these guys teel the truth, for once.

[ActionNewsBill]

“No drug matches the threat posed by marijuana.”

I guess alcohol is not a drug.

[E Rocc]

BENTON - Prosecutors around the country are being urged to take a stand against attempts to legalize or decriminalize controlled substances - in particular, marijuana.

Nothing arouses the ire of a government employee more than the prospect of the dimunation of their scope of authority.

-Eric

[tdadams]

“I would agree that marijuana is a gateway drug to hardcore drugs,” Boyd said. Marijuana is “the great seducer,” Boyd said, because “it breaks down a person’s defense to say ‘no’ to the harder drugs.”

That's just utterly biased conjecture. In Amsterdam, where marijuana use has been de facto legalized, the experience has been just the opposite. Use of harder drugs have gone down significantly.

[HELLRAISER II]

Two words come to mind after reading this pig slop. BULL$HIT!

[ActionNewsBill]

Two words come to mind after reading this pig slop. BULL$HIT!

Like this particularly erroneous statistic?

Marijuana, Burns writes in the letter, is not harmless but has risen as a factor in emergency room visits 176 percent since 1994, surpassing heroin.

[fporretto]

How is it that prosecutors and attorneys-general, who are paid by the State and who nominally serve the public by enforcing the law, are permitted to engage in this kind of campaign without at least having their motives and ethics questioned by the press?

Pro-life politicians are constantly required to face such questions as: "How could you, with your views, enforce our current laws defending the right to choose?" Pro-gun politicians are constantly required to face this one: "How can someone of your views be trusted to enforce our gun laws?"

Well, pro-Drug War prosecutors who choose to step into the political fray, here's one for you -- a bit milder than the above, but at least as important: If citizen initiatives were to overturn the laws against the possession, sale and use of marijuana, or some other currently controlled substance, how could we trust you, with your views, to defend the rights of those whose conduct had been legalized thereby?

Take your time.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://palaceofreason.com

[Blood of Tyrants]

" tell Americans the truth” about marijuana

By making films like "Reefer Madness"?

[buffyt]

We used to smoke marijuana in college 1969-1973 and that did NOT lead to harder drugs! We mostly smoked it on the weekends and we did NOT drive after smoking. We sat around in a living room and smoked. The people who use harder drugs do so without smoking pot, too. I don't smoke now because I had three kids - [grown kids now]. I didn't want to risk losing my kids. I didn't want to be influence on my kids, regarding smoking cigarettes or using illegal drugs, even just pot. Now that they are grown they know that their parents smoked pot in college. It is no big deal to them now. I would still smoke it if it became legal. Instead of a Friday night martini I might smoke a joint. Oh no! Oh my!

[buffyt]

a magazine, I think Newsweek, had a major article about pot this year. It said that they tested today's pot and it isn't any stronger than pot was thirty years ago. The reports that pot is 12 times stronger now than 30 years ago is a LIE. Pot is pot. The article was a long one and worth reading. They also gave the good medicinal purposes for pot, THC. It was a very interesting article and I am much more positive about pot now after reading it.

[tacticalogic]

Guess what? They did everything they could to keep the data from becoming public.

Our duly elected representatives surely wouldn't use public tax money to conduct research, and then hide the results from the people who paid for it, just because it threatens to undermine their authority, would they?

[ActionNewsBill]

a magazine, I think Newsweek, had a major article about pot this year. It said that they tested today's pot and it isn't any stronger than pot was thirty years ago.

Obvious Leftist propaganda! (/sarcasm)

At least that's what the drug warriors here will say.

[ActionNewsBill]

By making films like "Reefer Madness"?

Dane and Curry think that that film was/is factual. They still get most of their views on pot from repeated viewing of the film.

[steve-b]

Well, pro-Drug War prosecutors who choose to step into the political fray, here's one for you -- a bit milder than the above, but at least as important: If citizen initiatives were to overturn the laws against the possession, sale and use of marijuana, or some other currently controlled substance, how could we trust you, with your views, to defend the rights of those whose conduct had been legalized thereby?
Take your time.

Softballs. Feh. How about a real question:

If the opponents of one of the citizen initiatives you are denouncing gets caught engaging in bribery, vote fraud, or other such crimes, how can we trust you to prosecute them effectively?

You have five minutes.

[Gorons]

No, our duly elected representatives (Such as Patty Murray) are too busy praising OBL.