DRUG CZAR SPINS THE TRUTH ON FEDERAL MARIJUANA WAR

I had the displeasure of hearing the nation's drug czar, John Walters,
speak in Guntersville on June 30. I had intended to ask him some very
tough questions, but the planned question-and-answer session was
abruptly canceled and Walters was quickly whisked away in a bright
yellow Humvee amid tight security.

Walters' speech was disappointing. Taxpayers should reasonably expect
an $11 billion drug war budget to produce a distortion of the facts
somewhat less transparent than what he presented. Look what the Iraqi
information minister accomplished on a limited budget.

Walters claims marijuana is more dangerous than cocaine. However, in
the last 5,000 years of recorded history, marijuana has never killed
anyone. One would have to eat 40 pounds in 15 minutes or smoke 1,500
pounds in 15 minutes to overdose.

Walters claims 63 percent of people entering drug treatment programs
are there for marijuana. He also said most teens "submitting
themselves" for treatment are there for marijuana.

Teens under 18 cannot voluntarily sign themselves into treatment. It
is forced treatment to stay out of juvenile detention, and for adults
who have gone through drug court, it is an option to stay out of jail.
It does not mean they are addicted.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, marijuana was not the primary substance of abuse in 60
percent of the admissions involving it in 2000.

The administration's Web site says, "Among secondary marijuana
admissions, 56 percent had alcohol as the primary substance of abuse,
21 percent cocaine, 11 percent stimulants, 10 percent opiates and 2
percent other substances."

Walters strongly supports turning our schools into armed camps where
children are guilty until proved innocent. The government has no
business in our bladders, and certainly not in the bladders of our
children.

The war on drugs is a wasteful, counterproductive government jobs
program that creates the crime from which it claims to protect us and
tramples the Bill of Rights in the process. It is time for Americans
to hold these cowardly politicians responsible for the damage their
failed policies have caused and demand an end to the drug war, a.k.a.
the war on the American people.

Loretta Nall

President, U.S. Marijuana Party

Alexander City