WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN AMERICAN

What it means to be an American is a question that needs contemplation by
all of its citizens.

The dream of America is becoming trivialized by the harsh reality.

Everything comes down to money, and the more you have, the greater your
influence - from the White House to the Statehouse and everything in between.

Children are taught that America is a land of freedom where people may
pursue life, liberty and happiness.

How does this myth square with the reality that America incarcerates more
people per capita than any nation in the world?

Another myth: America is a land of religious freedom and tolerance.

From different religious traditions emerges a rich tapestry of different
moral values. If an individual chooses to live by a certain set of moral
values that doesn't physically harm another's property or person, that is
his or her right. However, if a group imposes its religious/moral values on
people not sharing these values, the results are clearly seen through
history: the Holy Crusade, the Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, Nazi
Germany and America's Drug War.

The big myth used in all morality crusades: Law enforcement is to protect
people from being harmed by others.

Reality shows the vast majority of police resources are used not in
protecting the individual from others, but from themselves. Seventy percent
of our prison population - nearly 1.5 million people - are there for
consensual acts that should never have been criminalized.

America's obsession since the disintegration of Russia's evil empire is
illegal drugs.

The private nature of selling and using drugs has led law enforcement to
resort to methods of detection and surveillance that intrude on our
privacy, including illegal search, eavesdropping, entrapment, etc. The myth
of the Constitution and its Bill of Rights protections comes up hard
against the reality of criminalizing consensual acts. Successful
prosecution of these cases often requires police infringement of
constitutional protections that safeguard individual privacy.

Indeed, as Orson Welles stated: Only in a police state, is the job of a
policeman easy.

As a physician, I have a front-row seat on this drug war. I personally know
patients with chronic pain, muscle spasms, seizures, nausea, vomiting and
appetite loss who get consistent relief from cannabis sativa, or marijuana.
But it is illegal, and I cannot prescribe this medicine for them. Several
have spent time in prison, including a 51-year-old women with end-stage
multiple sclerosis.

This woman and her husband are model citizens, yet this society views them
as criminal.

On the other hand, I have patients, especially the elderly, who cannot
afford basic prescriptions. Where is law enforcement in controlling the
criminal extortion by the pharmaceutical industry?

Recently I telephoned both Atlantic and Cape May County prosecutors to
challenge them to take part in a public forum in which they could defend
the drug-war policy they so zealously prosecute.

The drug-sting operation orchestrated by the Cape May County prosecutor, in
which police arrested people for attempting to buy drugs from them, only
serves to give the public a false sense of security and political
grandstanding points for himself.

The Atlantic County prosecutor recently hosted a radio talk show discussing
the rightness of his drug-warrior ways. Neither man has the courage of his
convictions to meet in a public forum to truly debate and educate the
citizens they supposedly serve.

Both prosecutors told me that if there is concern about the law, meet with
the lawmakers. Assemblymen and state senators have not responded to my many
phone calls and letters.

Who is taking care of the people?

Andre Gide, a French writer, gives me the best insight to the drug
warriors: "The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his
deception, the one who lies with sincerity." They have told themselves so
many rational lies about their deception, that they deceive even
themselves. Those who lose track of their hypocrisy, especially who begin
to consider it virtuous, are the most dangerous hypocrites of all. Alas,
when it comes to consensual crimes, they are the most prevalent form.