POT ARREST PUTS FACE ON 'DRUG-WAR' SCAM

Many were saddened by the arrest of local farmer David Orde for the
"crime" of growing marijuana. (July 30: "Lull Farm owner arrested
after police find marijuana plants").

But beyond feeling sad, we should all feel guilty for condoning the
insane criminalization of the most basic of human rights - the right
to sovereignty over your own body.

Like the Iraq war and the "war on terror," the so-called "drug war" is
a government contrived "war" based on lies that generates massive
profits for a few while causing massive suffering for many.

The drug war is futile by design (and thus never-ending) because it
doesn't "fight" drugs - quite the contrary - it strongly encourages
production and distribution of prohibited drugs by guaranteeing
extremely high profits.

But the most insidious and evil aspect of the drug war is it
manufactures its own enemies by criminalizing the most basic of human
rights - the right of sovereignty over your own body. The drug war
could not exist without first inventing a bogus crime.

Our government wastes billions of tax dollars each year harassing and
jailing millions of decent, productive Americans for a
government-invented "crime." The use of drugs - even dangerous drugs
like alcohol and nicotine - simply doesn't meet any reasonable
definition of "crime."

Real crime requires action that harms another. Real crime requires
both a victim and a perpetrator. For example, robbery harms another
and has both a victim and a perpetrator. Only a corrupt, depraved
government could invent a crime you commit against yourself.

If you use certain drugs, our government claims you're both a criminal
and a victim at the same time. Since the perpetrator can't be
separated from the victim, the victim is further punished for the
"crime." This pathetic perversion of justice is vigorously championed
by our government for selfish political reasons.

More than 50 government agencies share billions of your tax dollars
each year "fighting" a government-created crime. Of the millions of
illegal drug users, the vast majority use marijuana.

If marijuana were legal like alcohol, these government agencies would
suddenly lose billions of dollars because millions of former
"criminals" would suddenly be granted sovereignty over their own
bodies. The vast army amassed to fight the drug war would need to be
dissolved at great cost.

That's why our government strongly opposes even honest debate about
marijuana legalization because the massive money-making scam would
soon end.

By using lies and deception our government convinces gullible
Americans that simply putting something into your own body is a
serious crime.

But evidence clearly shows that nearly all the harm associated with
drug use is caused by creating the bogus crime, not from the actual
drug use. There are millions of drug users but relatively few are
harmed by their drug use. These few should be patients, not criminals.

We're appalled when Islamic regimes invent bogus crimes against
reading certain books or listening to certain music. Using certain
drugs is our government's version of the same thing.

But the worldwide consequences of U.S. drug prohibition are far more
serious and severe. All of these "crimes" lack the moral basis of real
crime. All are clear cases of a repressive government dictating the
private personal behavior of its citizens.

If real crime is knowingly causing harm to others, then the real crime
here is not drug use, but making drug use a "crime." And the real
criminals are not drug users, but ordinary people like us, who sit
back and condone a ruthless scam that has been exported and exploited
around the world, leaving massive human suffering in its wake.

CARMEN YARRUSSO

Brookline