KEN STREMSKY DISCUSSES ILLEGAL DRUGS I hope our country will have a policy on illegal drugs based on common sense and a knowledge of history. If you think a government should have the power to tell a person who is at least 18 years of age what he/she may do with his/her own body, you do not believe in limited government. I believe that a government should consider punishing a person when that person harms someone else. Prohibition did not work against alcohol and it is not working against illegal drugs. Many criminals and terrorist organizations are getting rich now from illegal drugs and children often die in drive by shootings when criminals fight over territory. A priest died in Boston, Massachusetts when the police went to the wrong home. A missionary woman and her child died in Peru because of the drug policy of the United States of America. Violent revolutionaries on the right and the left are buying their weapons for their War against Colombia's government from illegal drug profits. Brazil has decided to buy technologies for their police and military from European countries because they are worried that drug growers will come to the Amazon if they are pushed out of Colombia. I have long thought that people who are at least 18 years of age have a right to ruin their own lives and the government should not act as a parent when people at least 18 years of age do not want the government to act as a parent. People who are at least 18 years of age should be allowed to use and sell drugs that are currently illegal to people who are at least 18 years of age. The industry should be regulated. Individuals and businesses should be fined when they give and/or sell these illegal drugs to people who are under 18 years of age. Individuals should not be put in jail when they give and/or sell illegal drugs to people who are under 18 years of age. Congress might want to keep marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and other drugs that are currently not legal to use illegal while allowing Doctors to prescribe morphine to people who are at least 18 years of age. A Doctor who has a show on the radio recommended allowing Doctors to prescribe morphine to addicts in January 2002. Congress might want the Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.) to regulate the sale of marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and other drugs that are currently illegal. Congress might want the Drug Enforcement Administration to work with drug rehabilitation centers to help children and adults stop using marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and other illegal drugs. If our country was serious about reducing illegal drug usage, it would spend more money building and running drug rehabilitation centers. Our country gives non violent illegal drug offenders longer prison sentences than murderers and rapists because of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Our country does not allow many people convicted of drug offenses to obtain student loans while our country allows people convicted of murder to obtain student loans. Our country does not allow farmers to grow hemp which can be used to make paper, clothing, ropes, and parachutes. The Declaration of Independence is written on paper made from hemp. During World War 2, we used ropes and other products made from hemp. If we obtained more paper from hemp, we would not have to cut down as many trees. Our country does not allow many cancer patients to use marijuana which gives them an appetite after radiation therapy. Our government has trampled on the Bill of Rights during our poorly conducted War on Drugs. The government has broken down the doors of houses when they thought drugs were inside. Amendment Four of the United States Constitution says "The rights of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be search, and the persons or things to be seized." The government has seized the property of people it said were involved in the drug trade, sold off the property, and kept the profits. Amendment Eight of the United States Constitution says "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Amendment Five to the United States Constitution says "not shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation." Many criminals have bought their weapons from illegal drug profits and used them against police officers. Police officers can not protect us from murderers, thieves, and rapists when they are arresting non violent drug offenders.