JUST SAY NO TO ELECTED DRUG WARRIORS

TULSA, Okla. - The so-called War on Drugs is far more dangerous than
illegal drugs themselves.

The danger of illegal drugs lies in their prohibition, which
artificially inflates their value and gives criminals and terrorists
alike a means of raising substantial untaxable and untraceable funds.

It corrupts our police, clogs our courts and clouds the minds of
politicians as they try not to appear "soft on drugs."

The moral ideology of the drug warriors has created a blind spot that
allows them to justify jailing the sick and dying.

Precious federal and state law enforcement resources are wasted
pursuing medical marijuana cooperatives that are legal under state
law. They will not allow science or facts to interfere with their
jihad against illegal drugs in general and marijuana in particular,
even though every major study of drug policy has concluded that the
consequences of drug prohibition are far more dangerous and harmful to
the population than the illegal drugs themselves.

The First Amendment does not matter either. U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook,
R-Okla., inserted a provision into a recently passed federal funding
bill ordering that no federal funds go to transit systems that run any
ad that "promotes the legalization or medical use of" any drug listed
in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

The same bill authorized $145 million of our tax dollars to fight
medical marijuana advocacy. Fortunately, a federal judge ruled this
provision as an unconstitutional infringement on free speech, but how
many tax dollars were wasted defending this indefensible position?

Finally, the drug warriors' ideology allows them to misrepresent the
facts and even lie to justify their position.

Claims of dramatically increased potency of marijuana causing
addiction among the youth of America are patently false. Marijuana
potency has increased only marginally since the 1980s, according to
the federal Potency Monitoring Project.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, there is
no scientific evidence that marijuana that is more potent leads to
greater levels of dependence.

Because any use of marijuana is seen as abuse in the eyes of the law,
drug court diversion programs that force marijuana users into
treatment artificially inflate the treatment numbers. This increase in
adults and youth in treatment is then used by the government as proof
that marijuana is dangerous and addictive. This is a Catch 22 Kurt
Vonnegut would be proud of.

Good citizenship requires active participation in the process of
democratic government. In his June 5 guest column, "War on drugs is a
losing battle for America," Billy Mosteller of Canyon challenges you
to use facts rather than ideology to make up your minds about the drug
war and asks that you contact your representatives and share your opinions.

Without feedback, these elected officials will see their own bias and
blind spots as truth and feel no need to change the status quo.