PROHIBITION NOT THE CURE, BUT THE PROBLEM

To The Editor: The war on certain drugs was never meant to be won, it was
meant to be continuous. It was designed specifically to reduce the civil
rights and liberties of the general population, accustom them to an
ongoing and ever-growing police and military presence in their daily lives,
drain taxpayers' dollars and to keep lawyers rich, cops busy and jails
full. In that regard, it has been a huge success.

In the future, this war will be used to justify all manner of
suppression of privacy and civil rights and civil liberties. You
think Soviet Russia was bad? Or Nazi Germany? Those totalitarian
prison states will seem like summer camp in comparison to what is
coming for North America. Cameras everywhere, ID checks and sniffer
dogs on every street corner, drug testing, forced military service,
your iPod and laptops being scanned, zero privacy, internment camps
(most of which are already built). Everything is almost in place --
both the laws and the technology -- and all Obama needs is one
"emergency" to declare martial law. A war (caused by U.S. drug
policy) on its southern border should do nicely.

Russell Barth

Nepean, Ontario

Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis