Posted on 01/02/2003 5:17:17 AM PST by Sparta
BENTON - Prosecutors around the country are being urged to take a stand against attempts to legalize or decriminalize controlled substances - in particular, marijuana.
“Those who support drug legalization 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.”
The letter warns of “incremental victories” by those in favor of legalizing drugs and notes the “key role” local prosecutors play in anti-drug efforts.
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 and warning of “deceptive campaigns to normalize and ultimately legalize the use of marijuana.”
“I think it would be a nightmare to legalize it,” agreed Scott County Assistant Prosecutor Paul Boyd. “It would lead to so many more people out there high operating machinery and other things.” Boyd will be sworn in as the next county prosecutor at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Of the 16 million drug users in America, 77 percent use marijuana and 60 percent of teenagers in treatment have a primary marijuana diagnosis, according to Burns. “No drug matches the threat posed by marijuana.”
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.
Burns writes of the increasing potency of marijuana and its addictive properties in addition to being a “gateway drug” for many people.
“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.”
John McMinn of Charleston, administrator for the Circuit 33 Drug Court, also agrees that marijuana remains a problem for the courts.
According to National Institute of Justice statistics on arrests, 39 percent of the males and 26 percent of the females test positive for marijuana, and 53 percent of male juveniles and 38 percent of female juveniles test positive. “Roughly 80 percent of adult offenders in the 33rd Circuit Court come in with some kind of a drug issue be it alcohol or some other drug,” McMinn said.
“More people enter drug treatment every year because of marijuana as their drug of choice,” he added.
McMinn said a 2001 study of students in grades 8-10 showed 20 percent of 8th graders had used marijuana and 9 percent were current users, defined as having used the drug within the past 30 days. By the 12th grade, nearly half of the students had tried marijuana and 22 percent were current users.
McMinn does think research on medicinal and therapeutic properties should be pursued: “There is still so much research left to be done regarding the use of marijuana - the good and the bad.”
However, “there are other drugs that will work as well as marijuana,” he added, with some of the alternatives being more addictive and others that are just as effective while being safer.
Hey, I'm an upper-middle class white dude and could probably get away with it, too...however, the Arbitrary Application of Justice makes a mockery of our legal system, doesn't it?! Why should some young ghetto lad get time in the pokey when you and I don't?! Isn't that one of the African-Americans' biggest beefs? If a law ain't seious enuff for everyone to get busted for it, my opinion is that it should be eliminated so that no one gets busted for it!!
FReegards...MUD
LOL...ain't that the Truth?!
FReegards...MUD
I don't use either---but your sleazy ad hominem is duly noted.
forgive the millions in this country who really don't care
Being cavalier about the liberty of others is certainly a stance that needs forgiveness.
and aren't going to march to your paranoid drum beat that Big Government is on the take.
Did I make that argument (if so, where) or are you resorting to beating straw men?
Oh the temerity . . .
You started the "Sleaze" with this.
Come now. If enforcement as loose as you claim it is, what's the point of enforcement at all? Why all the sturm undt drang coming from the White House about pot? Why, in the grand scheme of things, should a pot smoker risk the loss of his liberty and property for smoking grass?
I think the concept of deterrant(sp) must be applied here. It would be very easy for cops to arrest everyone at 1 oclock when the bars close. Why do you suppose they don't?
Did I make that argument (if so, where) or are you resorting to beating straw men?
BUMP
Best FRegards BW
Arrest them on what charge?
OK, you didn't say "on the take". You implied they are Fascists and I should have quoted you. Sorry.
Reasonable grounds for suspecting they are .08 or better followed by a test to prove it. Most people leaving bars are past .08. There is a very good reason why they don't do this.
You still haven't quoted me; you're quoting Mudboy Slim.
Provide evidence for your claim.
Mistrust of government is a time-honored conservative principle.
BWHAHAHAHA! That's pretty good. It reminds me of my Army days where bitching about the Army was also a time-honored right of the enlisted men.
But for a Biblewonk there is a line where not trusting the gmt is a very faithless thing and I don't want to ignore that line.
Not necessary. .08 is hard to avoid if you are at a bar for a buzz which is what most people I see in bars are there for. Infact .08 and the existance of Bars are in oppisition to each other.
Reminds me of "it's a wonderful life" "We serve hard liquor for people who want to get drunk fast and we don't need no characters in here to give da joint atmosphere, do you get me, or do I have to slip you my left for a convinca"
If everyone with a .1 or .08 blood alcohol level is considered drunk, then the cops are complicit in any potential accidents if they don't arrest these folks and should be held accountable, right?! IMHO, the drunk driving laws are a mockery as well, but I'm not sure that adequately addresses my question about the Arbitrary Application of Justice...do you?
We're also now moving into State and Local statutes which is where the WOSD should be engaged as well. Where does the Fed get off deciding which weeds should be made illegal?! Should this not be a State or Local concern and dealt with at that level?
FReegards...MUD
Gotta agree with LeRoy...that was a low blow that did not further the rather reasoned argument you are making elsewhere...MUD
Cedar rapids is about average in the scheme of things and probably slants to the right. A friend witnessed a woman trying to get rented by 3 guys and he started chewing her out for being a ho. The cops came and arrested the guy for making a fuss about her being a ho. There are certain people that are targeted but when I go to a concert and smell all the weed, I know that the cops know it's there. What should I deduce?
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