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presents
ACTIVIST NEWS
Pot Prohibition Leads to Law Abuse
Source: HIGHTIMES, April 1987 p25
Typed By Fetal Juice
Toxic File #84
BY Burt D. Neal
NORML Asst. National Director
Much of our current administration's "war on drugs" rhetoric
deals with the theme that we must keep the prohibition in order to
save our childern. While I agree that minors should not use marijuana
or other nonmedicinal drugs, I have problems with prohibition as a
solution. Two recent case histories are good examples of why. In
both cases the authorities acted out of "concern" for the welfare of
adolescents, and in both cases that concern was directed towards a
prohibition solution - one that is doomed to failure because it all to
often leads to the abuse of civil liberties.
Last year, when a young teenage girl from California *turned in
her parents* to the police, she received national headlines and the
*prases* of *the First Lady, Nancy Reagan*. The concept of childern
turning in their parents to the authorities, a common practice in Nazi
Germany, was once again reborn in Western society.
When Deenna Young turned in her parents, the police found
quantities of cocaine that were larger then mere "possession" amounts.
Allegedly, her parents had been addicted to coke for some time and
were getting drawn further into a distribution network. Despite
assurances, the teenager was seperated from her parents for a period
of time, but they edventually faced less serious charges then could
have been pressed. If her parents had been sent to jail it would't
have fit in too well with the message, "kids, turn in your parents to
save them."
In the first case, I have received a letter from some parents in a
western state who were not so lucky as to receive the benevolence of
state - because they were not in the glare of the camera's eyes. When
their 16-year old asked for permission to leave home to find herself
they did what most parents would do: they said no. Some time later
both *state* and *federal* drug officials burst into their home to
arrest them. They found only the one marijuana plant that the parents
kept for their own use, but interrogated them for days asking about
cocaine. It turned out that their daughter, dissatisfied with her
parent's denial of permission to leave home, had told the police that
her parents were big-time users and sellers of cocaine
The parents were rather surprised by the cocaine allegations, for
they never used the substance, *choosing instead to use marijuana*.
After several days of interrogation the authorities were convinced
that the parents wern't the big-time dealers they'd hoped. After
piling up thousands of dollars in legal expences, the mother was
given probation, the father lost his job and served a year in jail,
and the teenager got her wish and was removed from the home.
Last November in Tennessee a similar concern for drugs around
kids led to a similar abuse of authority. The police conducted a
three-day undercover operation at the local high school with drug
sellers as the target. While *no drugs* were found, *eight high
school students* were *arrested, hand-cuffed*, and held at the police
station for several hours while being *DENIED* a phone call. All this
was because they possessed *TOBACCO*, a violation of a 1981 state
statute which forbids the possession of tobacco or paraphernalia by a
minor. When the students asked why they were being arrested they were
told to shut up. Needless to say, their parents were rather upset,
with the treatment of their childern received at the hands of the
police; they let the police chief know it.
There are several parallels in the two stories. Both are
examples of a *waste* of taxpayer's money and police time. The
taxpayers of that western state shelled out at least $20,000 to
prosecute and jail those parents. And the taxpayers in Tennessee saw
their police spend time on a three-day undercover sting that turned up
about as much as the uncovering of Al Capone's vault on Geraldo
Rivera's TV special: nothing
In both cases common sense was thrown out the window, and an
abuse of power was thought to be in order for a more "noble" cause,
therefore making casualties out of the individuals as well as the case
itself. I agree that minors shouldn't use tobacco. But instead of
conducting undercover stings and putting students in handcuffs as a
means of controlling adolescent tobacco use, there are much more
sensible solutions that might have been used.
Concerned about adolescent drug use? *How about outlawing
cigarette machines*? They take anyone's money - no questions asked.
Forget the "Mimai Vice" tactics; they don't work in the real world,
and they won't work with tobacco.
Their parents were victems twice, once at the hands of a vengeful
teenager and again at the hands of a power-hungery police bureaucracy.
The authorities could have checked out the primary source of
information a bit further but they didn't because they were driven on
by ambition based on *POWER*. Once they realized that they had been
misled, the authorities didn't see any reason to temper their
vengefulness, spending thousands of dollars to wreck havoc on this
family because of a marijuana plant.
The cause NORML fights for is not just the cause of marijuana.
It is the fight against goverment intrustion into our personal lives.
If there is one thing that history shows us. It is that unchecked
increases in the power of authorities leads to an abuse of those
powers.
That is the reason why our *founding fathers* (no, I don't mean
the *contras*!) put so much energy and faith into the Constitution.
The cases I have mentioned are far from being the most extreme I
have heard. They are, unfortunately, all too common. With 450,000
marijuana arrests and millions of urine tests taking place each year,
there are countless other such tales being told every day. With our
current warlike atmosphere, these abuses of power will inevitably
continue to escalate. *They will only be curtailed when you say
enough is enough*.
If you'd like to do something about the growth of governmental
intrusiveness, your cause is the same as NORML's. Please get in
contact with us and help us to help you. NORML desperately needs
people who are willing to distribute free copies of our magazine to
the public. Now that spring is here large outdoor gatherings are once
again taking place. NORML needs volunteers to distribute these
magazines at concerts, colleges, county fairs, or to friends. NORML
needs these people in every state, and we need you now. Please give
me a call today so that we can discuss what you can do to change the
climate of repression.
Childern are being urged to turn in their parents to the police
and the arrest of adolescents for tobacco are only two results of the
Administration's war on us. Certainly the back issues of HIGH TIMES
have cronicled many other abuses of power in the name of a "war on
drugs." How much more is it going to take before you decide to do
something about it?
Two new NORML chapters have been created. Connecticut has
another chapter, this one in Manchester. If you'd like to help them,
their address is Manchester NORML, P.O. Box 509, Manchester, CT
06040-0509.
Arkansas now has two NORML organizations forming. Little Rock
NORML is planning to publish a newsletter and has formed a legal
committie. Attorney Wayne Davis is the group spokesperson and will
handle publicity tasks. L.R. NORML will work with N.W. Arkansas
NORML, which is run by Mary Jane Fortune, and Arkansas housewife who
has had enough of the current drug hysteria. Her letters to the
editor have appeared in many Arkansas newspapers and have stimulated a
public debate. She can be reached at N.W. Arkansas NORML, P.O. Box
194, Fayettesville, AR 72702
(c)opied right from High Times..Fetal Juice/Toxic Shock July 1990