DON'T SWALLOW DRUG LEGALIZERS' LIES

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- I REMEMBER when illegal-drug horror stories,
such as those that follow, were unheard of, or reported only in
scandal-sheet papers at the checkout counter. Today, they're on the
front page of our hometown newspapers.

I think much of the blame belongs to uninformed or paid-off
legislators, who have allowed public opinion to be twisted into
forgetting what really happens when we let our guard down and don't
teach disdain for illicit-drug use.

Rhode Island legislators have joined legislators in 10 other states
in voting to let self-absorbed admitted drug-using adults buy public
policy and promote "medicalization" of pot, instead of letting the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration first prove it safe and effective.
Doesn't anyone remember thalidomide?

The most ridiculous point here is that the Supreme Court has ruled
twice, once unanimously, that there is no medical-necessity defense
for marijuana, and that federal law supersedes state law -- thus
nullifying all 10 states' legislation that would support smoking
marijuana cgarettes as medicine.

Although the Rhode Island lawmakers passed the pro-pot legislation,
Governor Carcieri fortunately has a backbone and vetoed it. However,
backers of drug legalization, who are pushing this legislation,
persuaded the Rhode Island Senate to override the governor's veto.
(The House has delayed its vote on the override.)

The campaign to get marijuana reclassified as "medicine" began in
1979. At the time, it was led by a group of admitted pot-smoking
zealots with little money. They were mostly supported by the sale of
drug paraphernalia, until parents united and closed the shops nationwide.

Today, these zealots are older admitted drug users, with access to
millions of dollars, provided by currency trader George Soros and
Peter Lewis, founder of Progressive Insurance. At least 15 Rhode
Island legislators received money from Peter Lewis, and one received
$1,000 from a group called the Marijuana Policy Project. Nationwide,
the two billionaires have contributed an estimated $40 million to
challenging drug laws.

Foes of this scam, for the most part, are using their grocery money
to try to stop them before it's too late.

The largest Rhode Island General Assembly recipient was Rep. Rhoda
Perry, who got $500 from Lewis and $1,000 from the Marijuana Policy
Project. (Full disclosure is available at the Rhode Island Board of Elections.)

Much damage occurs when people such as Fox News's Bill O'Reilly
(apparently a libertarian) say that it doesn't matter if people use
drugs, as long as they do it in the privacy of their home!

Unfortunately, O'Reilly has many listeners. He needs to realize that
users eventually run out of drugs, and usually money, and they go
looking for more, or they get high and want more excitement outside their home.

Let's look at the reality of societal damage from others' drug use.

In Pennsylvania, a group of parents, neighbors, and friends gathered
around a girl's gravesite one recent Sunday to sing "Happy Birthday."
A sweet, caring high-school junior, she had died two years before of
a heroin overdose.

In Florida, little Jessica Lunsford also died because of drugs -- not
her own drug use, but the crack use of an addict, who stole her from
her bed in her grandmother's humble home and killed her.

Near Harrisburg, Pa., a toddler left in the care of an 18-year-old
marijuana user was repeatedly burned by his lighted joint and had
marijuana smoke forced into her mouth. She was slapped so hard that,
days later, when her grandmother discovered her injuries and took her
to the emergency room, she still had the handprint on her face. She
tested positive for marijuana.

In Washington, D.C., the police were called to a crack house. They
expected to find an overdosed adult. Instead, they found a
4-month-old baby in an unchanged diaper; her skin was rotted. Her
crack-addicted mother had remembered to feed her but not to change
her diaper. She was dead on arrival at the hospital.

A 13-year-old Texas youth was found with heroin near his body and
marijuana and needles elsewhere in the house. In Virginia, a woman
went to prison for prostituting her 12-year-old daughter for money to
feed a cocaine habit.

Oh yes, Mr. O'Reilly and every state legislator who voted for these
bills nationwide: Illegal drug use does matter. The horror of abuse
to the children of those who "just use their drugs at home" must be considered.