DRUG WAR A TRAGEDY

Because of the drug war, thousands of police officers, drug users and
dealers and innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire, have died
needless deaths.

We have more than two million U.S. citizens in prison, many of them on
drug-related charges. Our children have alarmingly easy access to any
drug they desire, and our police have become soldiers engaged in an
unwinnable war against the American people. Our Constitution and Bill
of Rights have been destroyed.

Yet drugs are still readily available to anyone who wants them, and
are cheaper and higher quality than ever before.

It seems to me that Americans have been fooled into paying for their
worst nightmare and the more money we are asked to pump into the drug
war the bigger failure it becomes.

I don't think citizens should support any government program that puts
all of us at greater risk and fails us year after year.

Admitting that the drug war has failed and approaching it from a
health and social standpoint is not the same as condoning or
advocating drug use.

My thoughts are with all of the families caught up in this tragedy,
which could have been avoided if people would only wake up and realize
that, in the case of prohibition, the cure is worse than the disease.

Loretta Nall

President, U.S. Marijuana Party