U.S. DRUG POLICIES VIOLATE RIGHTS

Dear Editor: President Clinton's lecturing of Chinese leaders on human
rights is nothing short of hypocritical. Current drug policies have made
the United States a world leader in incarcerating its citizens. Our prisons
are full, with more and more of our tax dollars going toward additional
construction.

Tens of thousands of drug war prisoners are serving long sentences for
non-violent drug crimes, while rapists and murderers are set free.

At the state level we find numerous atrocities such as Oklahoma's Will
Foster, doing 93 years for growing a couple pot plants to ease his arthritis.

If Clinton is sincere about human rights, he would stop the cruel and
immoral persecution of medical marijuana patients and reform the failed
drug policies that have caused so much harm to America and the world.

Mr. Clinton should take a cue from Milton Friedman, George Schulz, Perez De
Cuellar, and the other 500+ eminent signers of the recent letter to the
United Nations special session on drugs concluding current drug policies
are causing more harm than good, and calling for more humane solutions to
drug problems.

It's time to depoliticize what is essentially a health problem, and work to
minimize the harmful effects, rather than making them worse. Only then can
the U.S. point fingers at other nation's human rights records.

Gary Storck (contact info)

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski