DE-FEDERALIZE AMERICA'S WAR ON DRUGS

America's "war on drugs" did it again: it took the lives of innocent
citizens. This time, it was a missionary's wife and child that were killed
by a Peruvian jet fighter.

In typical fashion, everyone is blaming the other guy. The Peruvian
government is blaming the Americans; the American government is blaming the
Peruvians. No one is willing to accept responsibility for this tragedy.
Let's put the blame where it rightly belongs -- on a fallacious U.S. drug
policy.

America's so-called "war on drugs" is a farce. In the name of fighting
drugs, American citizens are being harassed and hounded by an intrusive and
invasive federal monstrosity that is turning our once free land into a
playground for Gestapo games.

Recall that it was, among other things, a trumped-up charge of illegal
drugs that gave Janet Reno an excuse to send in the storm troopers against
old men, women and children at Waco. Likewise, it was a phony drug alert
from our CIA surveillance plane that scrambled a Peruvian jet against those
missionaries. In both instances, no drugs were present and innocent people
died. All too often, this seems to be the rule, not the exception.

Furthermore, this "war on drugs" has given federal agencies such as the IRS
the power to snoop into virtually every aspect of our lives. For example,
these ubiquitous institutions currently monitor every citizen's spending
habits. If you make any cash purchase over $10,000.00, the IRS knows about
it, with the likely result that a "friendly" fed will pay you a personal
visit to inquire as to where you got the cash. You might also be surprised
to learn that every cash deposit of over $3,000.00 made to your "local"
bank will trigger a notice to the IRS. All of this is done in the name of
the "war on drugs."

Now, no one hates the presence of hard drugs in our society more than I do.
However, the enforcement of drug laws, like the enforcement of virtually
all laws, is not the venue of the federal government. The Constitution
nowhere gives the federal government permission to kick down peoples'
doors, confiscate their properties or shoot down their airplanes! And it
certainly doesn't give permission for any U.S. agency to launch foreign air
attacks against American citizens! The Constitution requires that states
and local communities carry out law enforcement.

Like with every other social ill, therefore, the answer to America's drug
problem is to get the federal government out of it! This approach would not
only get the IRS out of our bank accounts, but also it would have given the
victims of Waco back their lives and the missionary back his wife.

Dr. Chuck Baldwin is the host of Chuck Baldwin Live, a daily, two hour long
radio call-in show on the events of the day. In addition to writing two
books of theology, "Subjects Seldom Spoken On" and "This Is The Life," he
has edited and produced "The Freedom Documents," a collection of 50 of the
greatest documents of American history.