Friends, For those of you unfamiliar with her, Lennice Werth has been a Libertarian Party member and a super activist for well over a decade. Along with Richmond activist and LP member Roy Scherer, year after year, she goes to the General Assembly when in session, to speak against further expansion of the police state and Drug Prohibition -- among other issues.
Yesterday, on December 15th, the Richmond Times-Dispatch printed yet another of her many letters to the editor. Lennice presented a strong case for repealing Drug Prohibition; and the paper honored her effort by naming her their 'Correspondent of the Day'. Congratulations to Lennice! You can read it at the T-D link -- but be sure to add a few supportive comments: http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/WERTHL_20081214-173142/150873/ Here is the text of her letter: ------------------------------------------------------------ Drug Prohibition Isn't Working, Either Editor, Times-Dispatch: Thank you for your article on alcohol prohibition, including the observation that it was "a tremendous failure." Nothing has changed in human nature since the 1930s. As the historian pointed out, "the distribution of liquor was turned over to a whole group of criminal entrepreneurs." And while the premise of our current drug war is that we must be protected from dangerous substances, drugs are sold, unregulated, by this criminal class to its extreme enrichment. The ensuing game of cops, robbers, and snitches is painful to watch. Nobody thinks this is working, yet our political leaders offer only longer prison sentences. We have 5 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of its prisoners. So many men and women are in prison that their children are stressing our foster-care system. When they get out, their opportunities to get on the right track are blocked by laws that bar them from receiving help such as housing and education aid. In this regard, the stigma of a drug offender is worse than that of a murderer or thief, as they are eligible for such benefits. Today, illegal drugs are cheap and easily available, even though we spend millions -- maybe billions -- on our current failed prohibition, and we have alienated our allies in South America due to the drug war. Why can't we figure out how to have a better policy even with the vivid historical example of alcohol prohibition? Tobacco is a very additive substance, yet we are having great success discouraging use without putting anyone in prison. Regulation is an option under which we could require that folks buying drugs would be asked to prove that they are adults. We could identify those with the most severe problems and gently guide them toward treatment. Regulation is the answer we found for alcohol. It is not perfect, but it would be a tremendous improvement over the violent, adversarial, and terribly harmful policy of drug prohibition. Lennice Werth. Crewe. ------------------------------------------------------------ One last thing -- please make a copy of your comments you're putting on the T-D site, expand them into a formal Letter to the Editor, and send them to: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=letterstotheeditor:_Prohibition> When you write your letter to the editor, please send a copy to <[email protected]>, so that we can archive it on our "Letters" page: http://www.LPVA.com/HTML/LettersToEditor.php Thank you all for your efforts, and above all, thank you for your belief in freedom. In Liberty, Marc Montoni, Secretary Libertarian Party of Virginia P.S. Don't forget -- the Libertarian Party needs your support even during the holiday season. Start a monthly pledge here: http://Contribute.LPVA.com ############################################################# Have an announcement you'd like to post? SCC members & many committee heads are all authorized to post; or you may send your announcements to the List Master: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=announcement>. ################################################## Unsubscribe: Send an email to [email protected] with no subject and "Unsubscribe Announce" as the text. ############################################################# Libertarian Party of Virginia http://www.LPVA.com Phone: 703-715-6230
