Drug reform - need comments...

Working on a letter to certain Congress critters that I intend to encourage other supporters to also send to theirs. I would like constructive criticism as to the contents and how to improve is. It's not finished, but close....

thanks,

-t

Dear Rep. Cummings and cc'd Representatives and Senators,

as the Chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Drug Policy, I'm sure you are familiar with Hollands experience with drug policy. and I would hope you are familiar with Portugal's. With Mexico following the Portugal approach, as announced last Friday, it seems a good time to write you about US drug policy.

I am sure you are aware that the United States has the highest prison population of any country in the world – 25% of the worlds prisoner population, yet we are a tiny fraction of the worlds population. At least 2/3rds of our prisoners are in for drug possession and the majority of these people are black.

A California government official has stated that if they legalized drugs, they would save Billions on enforcement, prosecution and incarceration and make Billions in tax revenue by taxing them. Other advantages are that it costs less to offer drug rehab than for incarceration, and like alcohol, would make it harder to obtain by underage individuals by requiring an ID be presented to buy. By extension, this should result in a reduction of the long term user population.

It is worth noting that Holland recently announced the closing of 8 of their prisons, due to a lack of prisoners, however, now 2 of them will remain open as they struck a deal with Belgium to house some of their excess prison population. It's also worth noting that while Holland has a reputation as a drug haven, and a false impression that “drugs are legal”, recreational drugs are not that popular among the Dutch population and the drug laws are in place, but not enforced.

http://www.nrc.nl/international/arti...k_of_criminals
http://blog.mpp.org/uncategorized/ne...nals/05262009/

Lets take a look at Portugal. They legalized drugs about 5 years ago, and if someone was caught with them they offered them OPTIONAL treatment. No fines, no jail time. This saved the government a ton of money. It also resulted in a REDUCED drug user population and a reduction in the transmission of HIV via dirty needles. I believe it also resulted in a reduction in the crime rate.

Detailed: (click through for full report – at bottom)
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10080

Readers Digest version:
http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...893946,00.html

So what's going on with Mexico? They basically followed Portugal's example and focus on the OFFER of treatment – NOT mandatory, unless, unlike Portugal the person has been caught 3 times. In Mexico's case, drug rehab and counseling then becomes mandatory.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

Milton Friedman, an economist, has estimated that drug prohibition costs 10,000 lives a year in this country (many innocent and completely not uninvolved) and is largely responsible for our high crime rates as addicts resort to crime to feed their habits. He's also stated that our interdiction efforts, have driven people toward harder drugs as marihuana is bulky and easier to catch, while harder drugs can be smuggled more easily, so have become more available and affordable for users. These policies are responsible for the introduction of crack, and probably meth. Drugs that don't exist in Holland. Additionally, police officers involved in drug enforcement have come out stating that that drug prohibition does not work.

Milton Friedman: Legalize drugs:
YouTube - Milton Friedman - Legalize Drugs

Police: Legalize drugs to save our lives:
YouTube - Police : Legalize Drugs to Save Our Lives

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition:
http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php

Many of these drugs laws have been brought into existence by taking isolated and statistically insignificant examples and representing them as the norm. In the illegal drug trade, there is no quality control so no uniformity in the amount of active ingredient the user gets. Some drugs are also “cut” with poisons and there are no warnings that come with them about not mixing them with alcohol or other drugs and not to exceed a certain dosage. In short, the tragedies (deaths) that have been used as a pretext to ban a number of these drugs are causing people to die because the drugs are not legal and produced by pharmaceutical companies with quality control, and perhaps regulated.

Turning the page to legal drugs that get abused, there are many patients in chronic pain – primarily those with cancer and orthopedic injuries who's doctors refuse to prescribe strong pain medicine because of fear of the DEA and record keeping requirements. Afraid that the drugs might get abused and the government might come after them. Even afraid that they might write too many of this type of prescription and come under investigation. This also applies to dentists. These laws and regulations victimize those that have a legitimate need for them.

Perhaps ten years ago, a Congressional Representative with a solution in search of a problem caught wind of isolated cases of Rohypnol being used to assist date rape. In reality, the drugs illicit use at the time was primarily by heroin addicts and limited to parts of 2 states: Florida and Texas. It's use in date rape was incredibly rare. After Congress promoted this as a national “crisis”, the feminist movement picked up the ball and spread a fear campaign about this new “epidemic”. Within a year, the incidence of drug assisted date rape had spread across the country and shortly thereafter throughout Europe and probably other parts of the world. The drug manufacturer, on it's own initiative, added a dye to the drug, making it useless for this application, however other substances were then pressed into service. Sometimes other pharmaceuticals, at times industrial chemicals, and other things that were homemade. Many people were raped and quite a few died as a result. Congress put further restrictions on some of these other drugs, all with legitimate uses but effectively making them harder or impossible to get by those with legitimate need. One in particular is the safest anesthetic and widely used all over the world. It's inclusion as a “demonized” drug is “odd”, considering that it's an injectable. Fortunately, the incidence of drug assisted date rape has fallen out of vogue, but the stigmata on the legitimate drugs involved remains, victimizing those with a legitimate need for them by denying them access. To quote a doctor: “It should be remembered that the number one date rape drug is, has been and will always be alcohol, and it is willingly and knowingly self administered by the victim.”

We live in a world where a daycare is afraid to give a child an antihistamine who is having an allergic reaction to pollen, Where children have been strip searched in our public schools for fear that they might have a tablet of the OTC medicine tylenol. As a former medic, I can clearly say that such policies have cost many American lives and actively hindered emergency care. We, as care providers, are afraid of our patients. As such, most of us, will pass by an accident, due to liability concerns. Yes, we are legally required to stop, but in doing so, we are not covered by insurance if not on active duty. Anything above “first aid” isn't covered under the “good Samaritan” clauses. That means you are liable if you have gotten higher training and especially if you use those skills! If you know what you are doing and apply it, outside a formal work environment, you are screwed. The general attitude among the EMS community is family and very close friends – sure, but anyone else – let them die. This is because of fear of gvmt regs and our litigious system. It makes our country very vulnerable.
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