Response to the War Zealots, "Declaration of Commitment"

By Duane Olson, Prisoner of the Drug War

The latest piece of propaganda released by the Drug War Zealots in Congress on April 30, 1998, needs to be addressed for its accuracy of information of fact vs. fiction.

At the outset, it should be made clear that there is no enumerated power within the Constitution of the United States of America which grants Congress the power to quote; "save millions of young Americans from the grasp of addiction, crime and death," by virtue of a federal police power.

America's War on Drugs is already thought by some to be unconstitutional as it is being applied to "any person" within the boundaries of the United States and it's Territories and this fact of law will be challenged in the federal courts this fall.

The Congressional drug war zealots who came forward on April 30, 1998 to sign a "Declaration Of Commitment" portray a picture of "finally" getting on board to support a war that has been in progress since 1970, a period of 28 years!

The choice of language throughout this phony "Declaration" betrays the carelessness and lack of serious thought in its construction, and is simply on more opportunity to further panic the public.

There was another "Declaration" in this country some 200 years ago, signed by honorable men, of which some later became Presidents. The "Gipper," "Denny," "Sue," "J.C.," "Newt" and the rest of the Johnny-come-lately(s) who signed this worthless document in April of this year certainly are not in the same league with our honorable forefathers.

Ten-Term-Newt Gingrich's remarks that, "Today we are proud to launch-" is absurd because Newt has been in Congress for 20 of the 28 year-long drug war.

Perhaps this explains why Sheriff "Bucky" Hayes of Alma, Georgia (Newt's home state) threw out the feds and bragged about his county's farmers and their "cash-crop" of marijuana on ABC's Pot of Gold documentary, for the Nation and the "kids" to view.

The statement made that, "The number of 9-to-12 year olds experimenting with marijuana increased 71% from 1993 through 1997 according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, is just that, a statement without any scientific or statistical information required to reach a reasonable conclusion of danger.

Throwing numbers out that are not backed by legitimate studies misleads the American public. Where were these figures obtained? In 1993 from the plains of Kansas, and in 1997 from the ghettos of Detroit? They would produce a legitimate study, but they cannot because that would expose their attempt to propagandize the America people.

The Drug Czar's Office reports, "Each year more than 14,000 Americans die from drug abuse at the cost of more than $67 billion." Is 14,000 people up or down over the past years? It is death from overdose of what drugs. . .cocaine, Tylenol, alcohol or tobacco. . . or what? They claim there are 14,000 deaths at a cost of $67 billion . . . why that equates to $4.8 million per person . . . who were these unfortunate people?

Who exactly is the Partnership for a Drug Free America? PDFA's contributors are: Brewers; distillers; pharmaceutical companies; insurance companies that only stand to profit when civil litigation comes to a drug-court-clogged-halt; banks; chemical manufacturers and military equipment providers; and last but not least, Big Tobacco. (To see a complete list of PDFA's contributers, CLICK HERE)

Three-Term-Rob Portman pledges, "to regain our moral consciousness in this country." Rob failed to act in 6 years to stop the obscene flooding of "pay-off" money dumped in his lap by lobbies and special interest groups, so we probably don't need to take "Rob's statements to seriously.

Nine-Term-Bill McCollum sits on the House Judiciary and unwittingly admits, "drugs are cheaper and more plentiful than ever . . . quantity is up, price is down." All the while he has been party to the construction of more new federal prisons during his tenure of 18 years of the Drug War, than were ever built during the first 200 years of this young Republic. Poor Bill doesn't get it and does not even hear his own admission of failure.

Alas, here comes little Three-Term-Anne Northrup, paying Congressional homage to a Drug Czar (which Webster's defines as an Emperor or King) apparently completely unaware of Article, I, Sec 9, of our Constitution. "No Title of Nobility shall be granted. . ." but then, Anne is committed to holding this Czar accountable! Good for little Anne. . . Incredible!

Two-Term-Sue Myric has seemingly made a career of being in the background of every photo-op coming out of Washington, jumps on board by announcing an "Honor Roll" of participants and confessing that, "it costs outrageous sums" to continue to pull this sled with no snow!

We can't have a group like this without a Chairman, so hereeee's Six-Term-Denny Hastert lamenting about significant progress with a "just say no" message developed by "Nancy" and then re-introducing it as though it were new, Georgie Bush's "Zero Tolerance," an act of annihilation, and a power not granted to Congress by God, The Constitution or. . ."We The People!"

I remember in 1936 my goat, Billy won a blue ribbon at the County Fair and now, some 60 years later, we have a Blue Ribbon Panel of wanna-bees with a slogan of "No Use!" (My apologies to "Billy")

Don't cha just love it! What Monty Python or Mel Brooks couldn't do with a script like this....

Here we have a classic example of a body of incompetents without a single new idea generated in nearly three decades, still spreading the same worn-out, half-truths after all these years!