Barnett, Randy E. and Don B. Kates – The relative absence of natural fathers, abetted in ghetto households by welfare policy, has a pernicious
effect on male children. The War on Drugs has also perversely exacerbated violence among black males in at least four ways: (a) the black market
uses violence to enforce agreements and fight over turf; (b) turf fights are exacerbated by imprisoning established sellers; and (c) black market sellers
are routinely murdered for their money or their drugs. Finally, and generally overlooked, (d) by imprisoning massive numbers of African-American
males, the War on Drugs has taken untold thousands of fathers away from their male children, thereby perpetuating the climate of violence among
inner-city youth. - Under Fire: The New Consensus on the Second Amendment, 45 EMORY L. J. 1139, 1253 (1996).
Hornberger, Jacob G. - Of course, there are those who suggest that democratically-elected public officials would never do anything to seriously
harm the American people. But let’s look at just a few twentieth-century examples: They confiscated people’s gold. They repudiated gold clauses in
government debts. They provoked the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor and then acted like they were surprised. They incarcerated Japanese-
Americans for no crime at all. They injected dangerous, mind-altering drugs into American servicemen without their knowledge. They radiated the
American people in the Pacific Northwest and then deliberately hid this information from them. They have surreptitiously confiscated and plundered
people’s income and savings through the Federal Reserve System. They have plundered and terrorized the citizenry through the IRS. And, most
recently, they have sent our fellow citizens to their deaths thousands of miles away in the pursuit of a relatively insignificant cause. - Gun Control,
Patriotism and Civil Disobedience, Pamphlet published by International Society for Individual Liberty; also THE TYRANNY OF GUN CONTROL, 28 (Future
of Freedom Foundation 1997).
If the government cannot stop people from using drugs in the prisons over which it has total control, why should Americans forfeit any of their
traditional civil rights in the hope of reducing the drug problem? - Inmate in the federal correction institution, El Reno, Oklahoma, TIME
MAGAZINE, October 16, 1989.
Paul, Congressman Ron - The new federal felony of money laundering is the crime of using your own cash, honestly earned and voraciously taxed,
without filling out a government form. The money laundering law says nothing about drug profits. Their real purpose is to stamp out the use of cash
for reasons of government control and taxation.
Paul, Dr. Ron – It’s time to rethink the whole system of HMOs and managed care. This entire unnecessary level of corporatism rakes off profits and
worsens the quality of care. But HMOs did not arise in the free market; they are creatures of government interference in health care dating to the
1970s. These non-market institutions have gained control over medical care through collusion between organized medicine, politicians, and drug
companies, in an effort to move America toward “free” universal health care. - Diagnosing our Health Care Woes, September 25, 2006
Ruwart, Dr. Mary J. - An estimated 20% of adults age 20 to 40 years use illegal recreational drugs regularly. The death toll from overdose was
7,000 in 19886 while 100,000 to 200,000 died from alcohol-related causes, and 320,000 to 390,000 died from tobacco. Tobacco is the hardest drug in
terms of addictiveness. Its popularity makes it the most serious drug-related threat to worldwide health. However, the biggest killer of all is
overeating, believed to be responsible for 500,000 to 1,000,000 cardiovascular deaths each year. Much effort and expense is being directed at a
relatively minor problem, most of which comes from the aggression we are using to stop it! For example, approximately 80% of the 7,000
deaths attributed to drug overdose would probably not have occurred if the recreational drugs had been marketed legally. Legal drugs are tested for
safety, while street drugs are sold even when they are highly toxic. They are frequently cut with other substances, such as quinine, caffeine, and
amphetamines, which makes them even more dangerous. The user seldom knows how much drug is actually being administered, making overdose—
death—much more likely. Once again, prohibition puts more people at risk. Street drugs are 100 times more expensive than their legal
counterparts. The safer oral route is shunned by drug users, because much more drug is needed to get the desired effects. Instead, users take the
expensive drugs intravenously, sometimes producing fatally high blood levels. ... In addition, prohibition causes some indirect deaths. Each year,
approximately 3,500 drug users contract AIDS from sharing needles. In Hong Kong, where needles can be bought without a prescription, AIDS is
not spread by contaminated needles. Approximately 750 people are killed annually during black market turf fighting. Each year 1,600 innocent
individuals are killed while being robbed by users. These robbery-related deaths would be unlikely if recreational substances could be sold legally,
just as alcohol is. How many alcoholics need to steal to support their habit? ... Our eagerness to control our neighbors creates and sustains those
with motives more sinister than just getting high! Our own choices are compromised when we refuse to honor the choices of others. Recent changes
in our laws allow the police to confiscate the property of presumed drug dealers before they are proven guilty. In the Pittsburgh Press’ 10-month
study of such confiscations, 80% of the people subjected to seizure were never even charged with a crime! A vindictive neighbor could falsely accuse
us of drug trafficking, and we could lose everything even though we were innocent. Our desire to control our neighbors gives them power over us.
We create a world that sustains the Mafia, unauthorized CIA projects, punishment without a trial, and false accusations. How much of the drug
traffic do we stop after paying this enormous price? Estimates suggest that only 10% of the street drugs are interdicted before sale. Clearly, our
aggression hasn’t solved the problem—it simply has created a more deadly one! - HEALING OUR WORLD, Ch 15.
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