Grievance 39 - Criminalizing

The U.S. Constitution failed to protect Americans from government's
criminalizing and discriminatory laws regarding toxic products, and
their freedom to ingest them, even if harmful.

The government waged "war" against alcohol in the early part of the 20th
century, and then against marijuana after losing the first. Alcohol
"prohibition" beginning in 1920 resulted in a widespread illegal
industry operated by people who garnered huge profits by secretly
manufacturing and selling alcohol products to consumers who did not
secretly produce their own. Many city streets became unsafe as "gangs"
battled for control of territory to sell it. When the ban was repealed
in 1933, there were self-made millionaires ready to do legitimate
business, and politicians came under their influence to decriminalize it.

A few years later, the government began a propaganda war against a
competitor of alcohol, marijuana. The government film "Reefer Madness"
attacked the smoking of the drug and it was made illegal with no
evidence that it was physically harmful or a danger to others. Alcohol,
on the other hand, was known to be harmful not only to users, but also
to other people. It was a factor in 75 percent of personal abuse cases,
and a contributor to high percentages in incest, rape, murder, robbery
and auto accidents.

By the 1980's, the "war on drugs" included the use of military units in
attacking marijuana fields, sometimes with toxic sprays, and raids on
methamphetamine laboratories in homes and cars. Streets were again
unsafe as gangs battled over territory to sell drugs of all kinds at
inflated blackmarket prices, and Secret Government (Grievance 2)
complicity in the multi-billion dollar illegal drug operations was
disclosed by CIA and other informers. Some drug users were lured into
becoming criminal suppliers in order to locate and arrest more suspects.
$97 million of taxpayers funds was paid to informers in 1993 alone.

A Cato Institute study found that criminalized drug users with no prior
record were sentenced to one year longer in jail, on average, than
violent criminals. A Federal Judicial Center report in 1994 said 70
percent of prison population growth over the previous nine years was
attributable to lengthy drug sentences. Jails overflowed and prison
construction became a major taxpayers expense.

Repeat drunk driving offenders, meantime, were still driving, as in the
case of a five-time loser who struck and killed a four year old child.
A U.N. meeting on drugs in 1998, involving about 150 countries, was
assessed by Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Lindesmith Center, a
private drug policy research institute;

"The U.N. drug summit is perhaps
the biggest pep rally ever in the
failed war on drugs."

Mike Gray, author of "Drug Crazy; How We Got Into This Mess and How We
Can Get Out", said the drug war resulted in trampling American rights;

"To break up what is essentially a
private transaction, they inevitably
have to resort to some subterfuge
that will trample the Constitution,
whether it's turning your kid into a
junkie or splintering your front door
without bothering to knock, or forcing
you to the pavement because you
happen to be an African-American
male."

With an AUTHENTIC CONSTITUTION in harmony with the natural Cosmic Laws
of the universe, and producing High Moral Values and Democratic Ideals, an
individuals free choice is protected to ingest even harmful products, while others
have the right to protect themselves from all offensive behavior.

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