GOOD REASONS ABOUND TO END WAR ON DRUGS

I was very impressed with The Advertiser's coverage of the war on pakalolo
(April 2-5) (http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/specials/pot/index.html). I
can think of 26 alphabetical reasons to end the war on drugs:

*Asset seizure laws that violate the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

*Buyer's clubs closed down, depriving sick people of medicine.

*Crack cocaine.

*Drive-by shootings in gang wars over drug territory.

*Editorial independence -- in television and magazines seized by drug czar
Barry McCaffrey in violation of the First Amendment.

*Freedom -- taken away bit by bit.

*Green Harvest: an attack on Hawaii's citizens.

*Hawaiians and other minorities disproportionately jailed on drug charges.

*Innocent victims.

*Just cause -- drug police search your property without just cause
despite the 4th Amendment.

*Kids taken from parents who are caught using recreational drugs.

*Libertarian Party -- wants to end this war on drugs.

*Mandatory minimum sentences: unfair, unconstitutional (8th Amendment) and
immoral.

*NORML and other groups trying to bring peace to America.

*Organized crime -- would be out of business if drugs were legal.

*Paranoia.

*... Um, I don't really care for this letter.

*Refusal to hear any more drug cases ever again; 50 federal judges already
have refused.

*Saving billions of dollars.

*Tens of thousands sitting in prison for drugs G.W. Bush, Al Gore and Bill
Clinton did.

*Unconstitutional -- don't forget the 9th and 10th Amendments.

*Violent criminals released to make room for nonviolent drug users.

*Wars between rival gangs over drug territories will end when drugs are legal.

*Man, I thought Q was hard.

*You wouldn't do more drugs if they were legal. Most of your neighbors
wouldn't either.

*Zero: the number of good things to show for this war.

Gerard Murphy