MARIJUANA

WAR ON DRUGS IS WAR AGAINST PEOPLE

The Sept. 5 editorial "Big Isle ambivalence leads to pot war lag"
expressesa myopic view of the marijuana eradication issue and is an
insult to Big Isle residents.

The federally funded "war on drugs" is criminogenic by artificially
inflating the price of marijuana, making it a commodity more valuable
than gold. That criminals will deal in an illegal, high-value product
and that they will use violence to protect their turf are no-brainers.
But we continually refuse to legalize marijuana to remove the profit
motive. Since we seem to have learned nothing from Prohibition, when
alcohol was made illegal, we are doomed to repeat all the mistakes of
that era.

The "war on drugs" is really a war against the American people. Look
at the increased U.S. prison population with the high percentage of
non-violent drug offenders. Also, the use of "no-knock entry" and
"asset forfeiture" by increasingly militarized police forces are
violations of our constitutionally protected rights.

Buzzing helicopters, flak-jacketed police, poisonous plant sprays,
panic-stricken farm animals -- some Big Isle residents have been
enduring these for years. It's time to re-examine the war on drugs.

Eric Terashima
Hilo