NEW ZEALAND SHOULD REJECT AMERICA'S DRUG WAR

Sir-Prohibition of cannabis is fundamentally wrong and is leading the
United States into becoming one of the most repressive nations on the
planet. We have just reached two million people in our prisons and jails.

The repression we are experiencing is reaching beyond the oppressive levels
of the Russian gulags. Even the anti-communist fervour of the McCarthy era
pales in comparison to the outrages perpetrated under the guise of the drug
war mantra, "protecting our children".

Are you willing to sacrifice the rights citizens should enjoy in a
democracy in order to control human nature?

As America fills its new corporate, for-profit prisons, the Constitution
and Bill of Rights - argued and fought for so passionately - are sacrificed
to police misconduct, prosecutorial abuse, and politicians on the take.

New Zealand should not follow in these footsteps.

Allan Erickson, Oregon, March 6, 2000