STAR ATHLETE A VICTIM OF A CORRUPT SYSTEM

We are still putting people in jail for a non-criminal activity:
marijuana use. This is absurd. There is no rational argument that
marijuana use is worse than alcohol or nicotine, the two biggest
killers and most addictive substances known to man. Yet we still
trash our Constitution and fill jail cells and clog our courts with
peaceful people.

The trashing of people's lives is only part of the problem. If Mr.
(Michigan football recruit Kelly) Baraka had been drunk or drinking
he would not have his scholarship, education or career at risk. This
is absurd and cruel. The ill effects of drug use lay in its legal
treatment, not its nature. The vast majority of people choosing to
use some drug other than the socially accepted ones (i.e., the most
deadly) suffer no ill effect. They are in control. If one has an
addictive personality, one is at risk in conducting virtually any
activity.

The negative effects on our society created by the legal treatment of
drugs are self-imposed. The Netherlands has essentially legalized all
drugs, and their violent crime rate compared to ours is
infinitesimal. Legalize and you take the profit margin out of
dealing. This eliminates the money motive for addicts and
drug-motivated crime. You also see incarceration rates go down. Cops
are laid off. Prisons are closed. Money is saved. It is established
that treatment for the percentage of addicts who create problems for
themselves and others is cheaper than incarceration. The savings
derived and taxes gained from legalization can pay for the 10 percent
or so addicted souls who need outside help.

Civil asset forfeiture has unleashed a tyrannical force in our
society. Police abuse the system for personal and departmental
purposes, and it is unreasonable to believe they do not use
forfeiture for personal and departmental enrichment. There are many
cases on record that point exactly to that. Drugs taint most cash,
and this fact has been used to legally steal money from people
posting bond and paying tickets. This is but the tip of the iceberg;
the legal treatment of drugs is a corrupting influence on our police
and courts. We should feel sympathy for Mr. Baraka for he is a victim
of a corrupt system that is seeking to make examples of prominent
people to prop up the lost cause that is Nixon's drug war. Let us
focus our criminal justice dollars on real criminals. We the people
of Michigan have an opportunity to tell Lansing and Washington that
we do not accept the drug war fallacies. Sign Michigan's Personal
Responsibility petition. Inform your representatives that support of
legalization efforts is not tantamount to being perceived as soft on
crime. It is the start to a more compassionate, rational society.

Michael Engle

Pinckney