Response to Walters

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 24 Jul 2002 20:41:52 GMT
I wrote the following letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal in response to Drug Czar John P. Walters' Don't Legalize Drugs.

Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2002 09:41:28 -0400
To: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
From: "Bill St. Clair" <bill@billstclair.com>
Subject: Letter to the editor
Cc: bill@billstclair.com

On July 19, the Journal printed an article by John P. Walters. I could give a point-by-point refutation. His article is loaded with misunderstandings, or lies. But none of his arguments matter. It doesn't matter how harmful drug abuse is to individuals or society. And it doesn't matter how many people want the government to do something about it. No drug law is allowed.

Mr. Walters is operating from a mistaken view of our constitutional republic. The U.S. government exists to preserve individual liberty. Period. To do this, the Constitution grants the government a small set of enumerated powers. It may do nothing else. In particular, the government has no business deciding what people may or may not consume.

I'm sick of drug war exceptions to the Bill of Rights: warrantless searches, compelled self-incrimination (breath, urine, blood, and hair tests), theft of property without due process (asset forfeiture), murder by SWAT team, and the massive imprisonment of peaceful people whose only "crime" is modifying their consciousness.

It's time to end the war on some vegetables. Don't just legalize drugs. Completely deregulate them. Eliminate the DEA, BATF, ONDCP, and FDA. Raze their buildings to the ground so that not one stone is left standing on another, and sow salt on the ruins. Arrest, try, and imprison, under 18 USC 242, any legislator, bureaucrat, cop, judge, or soldier who violates, under color of law, the civil rights of any U.S. resident, citizen or non-citizen. These civil rights include, but are not limited to, every one of the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

The war on drugs has nothing to do with drugs. It is a war on freedom. End it.

Bill St. Clair
bill@billstclair.com

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Comments (3):

its a bit off topic, but

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 29 Sep 2007 11:07:36 GMT



its a bit off topic, but well worth sharing -

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the funniest prank calls ever. takin the uk by storm


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Definitely off topic, but I'll let it stay

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:05:08 GMT

Definitely off topic, but I'll let it stay because it looks possibly interesting to some of my readers, and because you've highlighted a really good letter I wrote a long time ago.

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Well, Good work.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 20 Dec 2008 01:26:27 GMT

Well, Good work.

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