. .:::::. .::::::::. ...:::::::::.. :::::::::::: ..:::::::::::::::::.. ::::: :::: .::: ::::::: :::. :::::. : :: ::::: :: :::::::. : ::: : :::::::::. ::: :::::::: ::: ::::: ::::: : :::: ::::: oxic :::......:::: hock .:::::::. ::::::::::: ::::::::::: ::::::::: 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