POLITICAL LEADER FIGHTS FOR LEGALIZED DRUGS

Kevin Rowland, chairman of the Blount County Libertarian Party, recently
visited the Ocoee Region to deliver his opinion on why drugs should be
legal in America.

"When people think of the Libertarian Party and their stance on the war on
drugs, they envision hippies who enjoy sitting around smoking pot," Rowland
said. "But that is not the case. I've never smoked pot and I personally
think drug usage is stupid, but it should definitely be legal."

Rowland, a history teacher at Heritage High School in Maryville, Tenn.,
said legalizing drugs would have a tremendous ripple effect on society.

"In order to make society safer, in order to stop allowing violent
criminals early release time, in order to stop gang warfare, in order to
make schools safer, in order to stop mugging and robbery by drug addicts,
and in order to protect our rights to privacy, we need to end the pointless
war on drugs," he said.

Rowland also insisted that drugs should be a health issue and not a
national crisis like many politicians are making it out to be. He noted
statements made by both Republicans and Democrats to support his claim.

"Bill Clinton didn't inhale and George Bush had youthful indiscretions,"
Rowland said. "Do you think their life would have been better if they had
been put in jail for 10 years? That is what both of their policies do to
drug offenders."

Democrats also claim to be pro-choice on abortion, Rowland said, but will
incarcerate the same woman who aborts her baby for smoking marijuana.
Republicans, in the same sense, claim that guns are inanimate objects that
can be useful and abused, just like marijuana, Rowland said.

Rowland said another case of hypocrisy occurred in 1998 when Congress voted
down a bill requiring random drug test for its members. The Congressmen
said the screenings would be insulting and undignified.

"Too bad there's a different standard for politicians and for common
citizens," Rowland said.

Rowland also points to the trouble and cost of jailing a nonviolent
criminal. He said $30,000 is spent to imprison one inmate, which he says,
would make a fine teacher's salary.

"If you take 10 nonviolent criminals out of jail and use the money to hire
teachers, our education system wouldn't be in the shape it is now," Rowland
said. "And then we could stop talking about raising taxes."

Rowland said that out of two million Americans in jail, 750,000 are
nonviolent, drug offenders and a 1994 study showed that one out of three
violent criminals committed their acts in an attempt to get drugs.

"It is pretty sad when you go to jail for 10 years for LSD but only eight
for murder," Rowland said.

In fact, the average sentence for rape is only five years, kidnapping four,
armed robbery three and possession of LSD is just over 10 years. In 1998,
Rowland said, Kansas lawmakers wanted to impose life terms without parole
for convicted marijuana farmers. That same year, Mississippi sponsored a
program called, "Smoke a Joint, Lose a Limb," which would punish pot
smokers by amputating an arm or leg, Rowland said.

Even with all the stiff punishments, Rowland said the war on drugs will
never be won. According to a recent survey, 74 percent of Americans agree
the drug war was failing and in 1996 a survey of 300 US police chiefs
showed that only three-percent felt the war would end.

Police are also becoming corrupt with the black-market sale of illegal
drugs, Rowland said. He points to a case last year when a Wartburg officer
admitted to smuggling drugs into the Brushy Mountains. Rowland compared the
corruption of officials to the days when Al Capone ruled the Prohibition era.

"Jack Daniel's doesn't send pushers into school yards to hook children on
whiskey and it doesn't conduct drive-by shootings at Jim Beam dealers,"
Rowland said. "But that's what happened during Prohibition and is happening
now during drug prohibition."

Health issues arose during the prohibition times with bad booze blinding,
sickening and killing people, Rowland said, just as drugs are doing today.
Rowland feels by putting drugs in the hands of reputable businessmen, the
risk will drop drastically.

Rowland also feels Americans are repeating history by forbidding drugs.
When alcohol became legal after prohibition, the demand for whiskey
plummeted. And that is what will happen if drugs were to become legal, he said.

"We teach history in schools so we don't repeat our own stupid actions,"
Rowland said. "But that is what we are doing."

Rowland believes the only way the endless fighting and killing over drugs
will cease is through the Libertarian party. In fact, Rowland ran for a
seat in Congress in 2000 and received 22,000 votes.

Also, Rowland's vice-chair in Blount County, Charles Wilhoit, is planning
on announcing his candidacy for governor of Tennessee later this month. He
is a retired captain of the United States Navy.

"Libertarians believe freedom works," Rowland said. "We believe that
individuals, families and communities know how to run their lives and spend
their money better than politicians can do it for them."