cannabisnews.com: N.M. Guv is 1 Bloke Over The Line N.M. Guv is 1 Bloke Over The Line Posted by FoM on October 12, 1999 at 23:12:53 PT By Don Feder Source: Boston Herald Speaking at George Washington University last week, New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson invoked the biggest lie of the drug-legalization movement: The drug war is a multibillion dollar flop. Johnson is the first governor to call for unconditional surrender - the legalization of cocaine and heroin as well as marijuana. He smoked pot regularly as a student and found it delightful and salutary.``I hate to say it, but the majority of people who use drugs use them responsibly,'' the Republican said. Clearly, Johnson hasn't spent much time in prisons, rehab centers, homeless shelters, emergency rooms or the seedier sections of our inner cities.The drug war a failure? All of our policy initiatives should be such a bust.According to ``The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators,'' between 1979 and 1997, there was a 60 percent decline in marijuana use nationally. From 1985 to 1997, cocaine use decreased 77 percent.Legalizers invariably retort that this progress is due exclusively to education. (Enforcement played no part, they insist.) Really, then why is teen smoking on the rise, despite incessant anti-tobacco appeals aimed at youth?It is no coincidence that crime rates are now at their lowest level since 1973. Between 1990 and 1997, the total crime rate in the United States fell 15.4 percent. Violent crimes are down 17 percent. Fight drugs and you fight crime.In 1997, 57 percent of state prisoners reported using drugs in the month before their offense.A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed non-users who live with those who use drugs are 11 times more likely to die violently than those in drug-free homes.In Detroit, 75 percent of all child abuse cases are linked to drugs. Cocaine is responsible for 20 percent of highway fatalities in New York state. In 1995, there were 931,000 drug-related emergency room admissions.Legalize drugs and all of the above will be multiplied by some unknown factor. Responsible drug use is as much of an oxymoron as responsible road rage.You don't have to be the nation's drug czar to know that drugs loosen inhibitions and inhibit thinking. They make some people lazy and others crazy. Crack stimulates violence and paranoia. Heroin addicts have a hard time holding down jobs. Pot heads tend to be listless. I don't know anyone who believes that legalization will result in a decline in consumption. If some people are willing to risk substantial penalties to puff, snort or shoot up, imagine how many more will enter the drug scene when cheaper narcotics can be indulged risk-free.Health care costs, crime rates, domestic violence, joblessness - all would soar. The war on drugs is costly, and worth every cent. Ask the father of a child who's died from an overdose. Ask the mother who's seen her once-promising student (in the words of Dr. Timothy Leary) turn on, tune in and drop out.Ask the man who has struggled with his addiction for decades. Ask the coke baby in hell for his mother's habit. Ask the 3-year-old who's left alone in a filthy apartment by her addict mother or beaten to death by mom's doper boyfriend.Or, you could pose that question to Robert Downey Jr. at the Los Angeles County Jail. In August, the star of ``Chaplin'' and ``Restoration'' was sentenced to three years.Wealth and fame notwithstanding, Downey couldn't make it as a responsible drug user. In June 1996, the star was stopped for speeding. Inside his truck, police found crack cocaine, heroin and a pistol. Firearms frequently facilitate responsible drug use.After that arrest, the actor broke into a neighbor's home and fell asleep on a child's bed. Afterwards, there were repeated violations of probation.At his sentencing, Downey told Judge Lawrence Mira, ``It's like I have a shotgun in my mouth, and I got my finger on the trigger, and I like the taste of the gun metal.''If Gov. Johnson and other legalizers have their way, many more Americans will develop that singular taste, and the rest of us will get to clean up the brain matter.Wednesday, October 13, 1999Boston HeraldRelated Articles:Drug Legalization, Reform Light Up Forum - 10/12/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3250.shtmlLet's Debate This Drug War - 10/09/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3223.shtmlGovernor Johnson Comes to Washington - DRC Net http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3204.shtml Don't Legalize Drugs - 10/08/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3206.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by Give me a Break on October 13, 1999 at 16:55:21 PT legalization NOT TO MENTION FOLKS, that there is a HUGE difference between doing heroin and simply smoking a joint. I would agree that cocaine and heroin and certain other drugs can potentially cause problems through long term use, but I really don't know ANY pothead who got violent and beat up their significant other while high on JUST pot. Throw in a little alcohol and poverty, and we may have a very different story. But legalizing pot will cause our nation to descend into chaos???? Not so folks, but then again, UNLIKE so many anti-drug puppets, I tend to excercise my own mind and use my own brain for independent thought rather than just believeing everything I see and hear in the national media today. AND BESIDES...being responsible for your own life has nothing to do with what you smoke or take----it has to do with your own willpower, which most people don't want to use these days. oh well......... [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by observer on October 13, 1999 at 10:55:07 PT more lies from the establishment... > Ask the coke baby in hell for his mother's habit ... ' ' Take as a prime example the tales of "crack babies". In 1985, Dr. Ira Chasnoff reported a tragic syndrome observed in 23 babies born to crack users. These children, he announced "...can't focus on a human face or respond to a human voice." Furthermore, they exhibited "gaze aversion", turning away when someone looked at them. . . .By 1992, after following 300 babies exposed to crack prenatally and finding their IQs equal to babies never exposed, even Dr. Chasnoff was recanting his original diagnosis. "Poverty", he declared, "is the worst thing that can happen to a child". ' ' 'Crack Baby' Lies [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Rob Earing on October 13, 1999 at 10:43:17 PT: Reply Ask the coke baby who is in hell? Robert Downey ,Jr. couldn't handle it so by extension no one can? Heroin addicts have a hard time holding onto jobs? (or just the ones with drug tests?)Cocaine use is down between 85 and 97? Maybe the US government was short of cargo planes? 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