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From: prs@oliveb.UUCP (Phil Stephens)
Newsgroups: net.followup,net.legal,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: A new call for ignorance
Message-ID: <1168@oliveb.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 22-Sep-86 18:57:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: oliveb.1168
Posted: Mon Sep 22 18:57:41 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Sep-86 01:10:39 EDT
References: <5360@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Reply-To: prs@oliven.UUCP (Philip Stephens)
Organization: Olivetti ATC; Cupertino, Ca
Lines: 41
Xref: mnetor net.followup:2454 net.legal:3683 talk.politics.misc:298

In article <5360@decwrl.DEC.COM> williams@kirk.dec.com (John Williams DTN 223-2163) writes:
>Last night, the Reagans called for a new wave of ignorance. Past attempts
	...
>1) The number of drug related deaths is low. ( @500/yr. )

I am sympathetic with your points, and would like some confirmation/references
on the above statistic so that I can be sure I am using a valid statistic when
comparing it to the (approx) 50K traffic deaths per year and *350 thousand*
tobacco-related deaths (incl emphasima and heart attack, in addition to cancer).

>I say drugs should be legalized because:

Some validity to your arguments, but I wouldn't throw all drugs into the
same basket.  Given valid information, I *might* want to legalize some
drugs w/o controls, some with minimum age restrictions (alcohol *is* a
drug, and *does* kill; same for tobacco), some under observation only
(a bizzarre idea I had as a teenager, when all the scare-stories about
LSD were getting heavy press), some by prescription, and some for
research only.  But I don't have such information, do I?  And such a
realistic multi-teired system is much too complicated for political
bandwagoning, let alone Raygun's Brain.

>				 Maybe he's just trying to cover up
>the increased funds he wants to put into the black hole defence
>budget. 

Possibly your most important point.  Senate elections are only weeks away,
and distraction is a major Raygun strategy.  Others have mentioned a
more frightening possibility involving use of military to "solve" this
problem.  Small step from there to others uses, let alone the Prohibition-
style abuses likely in the anti-drug "war" itself.

[My followup to article by:]
>	John Williams


						- Phil
Reply-To: prs@oliven.UUCP (Phil Stephens)
Organization not responsible for these opinions: Olivetti ATC; Cupertino, Ca
Quote: "Cocain is God's way of telling you you've got too damn much money"
	(- I think by Robin Williams, in his act).