RECENT LETTER TO JUNEAU EMPIRE

Alvin Anders
Juneau, AK
Nov. 27, 2002

The Juneau Empire just finished three days of stories directed at the drug problem in Juneau. Below is the 400 word letter that I sent them in response.

The real reason certain drugs are illegal is not because some are more harmful than others. If that were true, then alcohol and tobacco would be illegal. Alcohol kills more people in a year than all illicit drugs combined kill in a decade. And tobacco kills four times as many as alcohol. No, the real reason is that during the great depression, a time when many Americans feared losing their jobs, our ancestors passed laws making illegal those drugs used by recent immigrants, foreigners with strange habits and customs. Alcohol prohibition was aimed at the mostly Catholic Irish, German and Italian immigrants. Marijuana and cocaine prohibition was aimed at Mexican and Latin Americans. Opium prohibition was aimed at the Chinese. Alcohol prohibition ended because our white European ancestors could see it was a disaster. So the drug of choice of European immigrants was made legal and prohibition continued for the drugs of choice for all other races and ethnic groups. Then in the 1970's heroin and marijuana use spread to Americans fighting in Viet Nam. As these soldiers came home, so did their new drug choices. As marijuana use spread to the "counter culture", those opposed to Nixon and his policies, Nixon and his advisors saw that by declaring a "war on drugs" he could not only ride to electoral victory on the tried and true "tough on crime" issue but could also use the new "drug war" laws as a tool to arrest and harass those who opposed his policies. Every president since has continued this same "war on drugs" lest they be accused of being "soft on crime."

There is another solution. One that will not only save taxpayers' money, but that will also reduce the violence while encouraging addicts to get treatment. I'm advocating the same approach that we used for the first 150 years in this country. That approach is to treat all drugs the same. Ask yourself, if you could walk into any drug store and buy any drug you wanted, how much more heroin, cocaine, alcohol or tobacco would you buy today than yesterday? What makes you think your neighbor is any different than yourself?

Meanwhile, after thirty years of this "drug war", drug use is as prevalent as ever, drugs are as cheap as ever, violent crime is rampant and, instead of building colleges, we build prisons. Isn?t it time we said enough?

Alvin Anders
Libertarian Party - Juneau
Juneau, AK 99801 790-4367

Please print this letter as a counter point to the drug war hysteria. As for my credentials, I am the former chair of the Alaska Libertarian Party and was our recent candidate for Lieutenant Governor. I am currently starting a Juneau Chapter of the Libertarian Party. I also led the ballot effort in 2000 to re-legalize marijuana. This summer I ran the office in Reno, Nevada that helped gather signatures to put marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in Nevada.