Sometimes we get caught up in the legalese behind the drug (esp. marijuana) legalization debate. But I think, in the end, the way we're gonna win is to get people MORALLY OUTRAGED at what the "drug war" is doing to our country and our citizens.
In Cedwyn's diary now on the Rec List, there's a quote by Bill Buckley. That was the inspiration for this diary. Actually, not so much of a diary as a couple of moving essays by Mr. Buckley. I know he helped create the conservative movement in this country, and therefore he deserves blame where it's due. But on the other hand, he was often on the right side of important issues (FAR more than the average conservative), and his stance on the "drug war" helps to make up for some of the problems his conservative views caused.
(And yeah, I'm gonna violate the "no more than 2 or 3 paragraphs" rule... I doubt very much that Bill would have minded.)
UPDATE --- I guess I'll try not to violate it after all. So I advise you guys to click the links and read the whole things since my edits don't do the essays justice...
UPDATE #2 --- I removed a personal comment that some thought was a little (or a lot) inflamatory. M'kay?
This first is a short essay by Buckley from late 1999.
IN PURSUIT OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE IN CALIFORNIA
The federal narcomaniacs decided, at some point, to move in on the California scene. Background: In l996, a plebiscite was conducted. Proposition 215 ruled that a Californian could take marijuana if counseled to do so for reasons of health by his doctor.
[snip]
What apparently happened in the past fortnight was a policy decision to force the hand not only of California, but of the 9th Circuit. Judge George H. King of Los Angeles was given two indictments to try: Peter McWilliams, an author, publisher and poet (and a personal friend), and Todd McCormick, an entrepreneur. McWilliams and McCormick were charged with conspiring to manufacture marijuana, which indeed is exactly what they did, growing 6,000 plants. The design, said the defense, was to make these plants available to the cannabis clubs to pass the drug along as authorized by Proposition 215.
[snip]
Peter McWilliams has AIDS and also an AIDS-related cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He went through chemotherapy and radiation for the cancer and then a pharmaceutical therapy for AIDS.
[snip]
In July l998, federal agents arrested McWilliams. They put handcuffs on him, took him to jail, kept him there for several weeks, then released him on bail with the proviso that he must not use marijuana
[snip]
"McWilliams stopped smoking marijuana. He now takes the prescription anti-nausea drug, Marinol, that he claims only works about a third of the time. He vomits up much of his AIDS medications and, by the fall of l998, the amount of live AIDS virus in his blood had reached a critical stage. McWilliams can no longer walk any farther than 50 feet and uses a wheelchair. All of this since his arrest."
The judge issued his ruling: The defendants would not be permitted to advise the jury (a) of the existence of Proposition 215... and (b) the jury would not be permitted to hear the medical record of the defendants. McWilliams' attorney would not be permitted even to tell the jury that he could not address certain issues in the case, or give the reasons why he could not do so.
[snip]
So the fate of Peter McWilliams and of Todd McCormick is in the hands of Judge King. Perhaps the cool thing for him to do is delay a ruling for a few months, and just let Peter McWilliams die.
http://www.uexpress.com/...
Pretty sick, huh? Well, then you'll wanna know this: Within less than a year, Peter McWilliams DID die.
Here's Bill a few days later...
The Death Of Peter McWilliams
By William F. Buckley
6-24-00
Peter McWilliams is dead.
Age? Fifty.
Profession? Author, poet, publisher.
Particular focus of interest? A federal judge in California (George King) would decide in a few weeks how long a sentence to hand down, and whether to send McWilliams to prison or let him serve his sentence at home.
What was his offense? He collaborated in growing marijuana plants.
What was his defense? Well, the judge wouldn't allow him to plead his defense to the jury.
[snip]
What was he doing when he died? Vomiting. The vomiting hit him while in his bathtub, and he choked to death. Was there nothing he might have done to still the impulse to vomit? Yes, he could have taken marijuana; but the judge's bail terms forbade him to do so, and he submitted to weekly urine tests to confirm that he was living up to the terms of his bail.
[snip]
Is it being said, in plain language, that the judge's obstinacy resulted in killing McWilliams? Yes.
[snip]
I ended a column in November by writing, "So, the fate of Peter McWilliams is in the hands of Judge King. Perhaps the cool thing for him to do is delay a ruling for a few months, and just let Peter McWilliams die." Well, that happened on June 14.
[snip]
Imagine such a spirit ending its life at 50, just because they wouldn't let him have a toke. We have to console ourselves with the comment of the two prosecutors. They said they were "saddened" by Peter McWilliams' death. Many of us are -- by his death...and by the causes of it.
http://www.rense.com/...