Drug Courts - by American Anti-Prohibition LeagueInstead of the search for truth and justice, judges and prosecutors now claim to possess the ability to define
the use (all use) of certain drugs as a "disease", - albeit still illegal - while compelling something called
"treatment", (President Bush calls it "coerced abstinence".)
Isn't it illegal to practice medicine without a license?
AMERICAN ANTI-PROHIBITION LEAGUE Portland, Oregon Monday, May 21, 2023
Drug Courts - Filling "Treatment Gap" or Treatment Trap?
It is bad enough conservative and liberal lawmakers alike have conspired these last 100 years or so to distort the traditional definition of "crime" (violating someone else's rights). Well over half of the 2 million American prisoners today are non-violent "drug offenders" for which no victims can be identified. Under federal and some states' "mandatory minimums" many of them are doing more time than murderers, rapists and child molesters. Now some of those same lawmakers who brought us mandatory minimums and replaced social welfare with prisons, have suddenly seen the light, aka "compassionate conservatism." In their "new" enthusiasm for fighting "drugs" - now on the demand side - they want to turn the very function of our already disgraced justice system on its head, once more. Instead of the search for truth and justice, judges and prosecutors now claim to possess the ability to define the use (all use) of certain drugs as a "disease," - albeit still illegal - while compelling something called "treatment", (President Bush calls it "coerced abstinence"). Isn't it illegal to practice medicine without a license? Not in the new "therapeutic state," as the scholar and libertarian thinker, Thomas Szasz identifies it in his stunning tour de force, 'Our Right to Drugs.' Of course the free wheeling Szasz wants nothing to do with either government licensure (involuntary contracts), or drug prohibition (sovietizing). Yes, when it comes to some plants and drugs in America today we might as well be living in the old Soviet Union. That heaven of bureaucratic insanity, perpetual food shortages, black-markets, endemic corruption, rampant nepotism and the widespread use of "civil commitment" to repress those who dare protest the whole mess. I agree 100 percent with Szasz, government has no legitimate authority whatsoever to prohibit or needlessly restrict the commerce of any drug. Any drug. Caveat Emptor, buyer beware. Although at this point it may seem we'll never break these federal shackles, remember it is always darkest just before the dawn. Ironic the real answer to our "drug problem" was THE major plank in Bush's own election campaign, nothing less than the Rosetta Stone of the Republican Party itself, (or so they would have us think) and is - sans drugs - all around us at this very moment. And while it's certainly not perfect, it is what makes us Americans the most prosperous, well fed, clothed and housed society to ever occupy this beautiful little planet. It's called the Free Market. Accept no substitute, or else take your "treatment" and das vadaanya. ***************************************** There can be no civil society in America without Drug Peace! Protect kids, respect adults, end Prohibition. Again! Floyd Ferris Landrath, 1992 founder, current director American Antiprohibition League 1994 co-founder Portland NORML Office: Phantom Gallery see "Shattered Lives," portraits from America's Drug War FREE PHOTO EXHIBIT, Tues-Fri 4-8pm, Sat & Sun noon-6pm 3125 SE Belmont Street Portland Oregon 97214 503-235-4524 AAL@InetArena.com For vigil info in Vancouver, WA., check out: http://www.kalkor.com/vigil "America's drug war is so stupid that if you pay close attention to just how stupid it is -- it'll drive you to use drugs." -- Jim Hightower Copyright 2002