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Politics : Libertarian Discussion Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: budweeder who wrote (3861)	7/12/2000 4:27:23 PM
From: Jim S	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13056

I don't disagree, Bud. The problem is one of cause and effect, IMO. We, as a society, agreed that drug abuse was a bad thing, and needed to be stopped. Like an autocratic parent, the government geared up mechanisms to make heavy-handed enforcement possible, and when the initial attempts failed, they did what governments do -- throw more money at the problem and, in the name of safety, provide all sorts of weasel-like exceptions to constitutional protections. Then, other law enforcement areas that could be linked to drugs, or even that had nothing to do with drugs, wanted to take advantage of those same exceptions, getting us to today's pitiful state. A strong case can be made that drugs, or more accurately, the "war on drugs," is the most direct cause for the erosion of our constitutional freedoms. We can't wave a magic wand and make the drugs go away, no matter how badly we want them gone -- but, I'm of the opinion that I don't want to lose MY freedoms to prevent some moronic airheads from OD-ing on something sold to them by another lowlife in a back alley. I'd rather see those jerks puke their guts out and die in a gutter. Maybe there's a better way to achieve the result you and I agree on, something that doesn't involve the decriminalization of drugs. I'm open to suggestions. jim