-Caveat Lector- Clinton Calls for Marijuana Decriminalization (and Lies While Doing So) Leave it to lame duck president Bill Clinton to taint a potentially breakthrough moment -- calling for marijuana decriminalization and major Drug War reform -- with hypocrisy and lies. President Clinton, of course, is an ex-pot smoker whose infamous claim that he smoked but "didn't inhale" made him a laughing stock worldwide. In an interview with the magazine Rolling Stone, published in early December, he was asked if he thought that "people should go to jail for using or even selling small amounts of marijuana". Clinton's answer: "I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be. ... We really need a re-examination of our entire policy on imprisonment. ... " This from the man whose own administration has for eight solid years savagely prosecuted the Drug War -- particularly casual marijuana use. In fact, during Clinton's regime America suffered the largest number of marijuana arrests in its history -- over 4,175,357 persons were arrested on marijuana charges between 1992-99. Tens of thousands of non-violent drug offenders now waste behind bars. National Review, America's leading conservative magazine, which has long called for ending the Drug War, asked the right question in an editorial after the interview came out: "Then why didn't [Clinton] do anything about it during the eight years that he was president -- such as propose a law, give a speech, or even plant a friendly question in a press conference?" Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of NORML, called Clinton's statement "incredibly belated..." The Las Vegas Review-Journal put it most bluntly: "To call Mr. Clinton a hypocrite is to insult hypocrites everywhere." Katha Pollitt, a columnist for the leftwing Nation magazine, charges that Clinton lied in the interview when he claimed he had tried to reform the drug laws by eliminating the grotesque disparity between crack and powdered cocaine penalties, a disparity that has filled prisons with small-time drug users. Clinton claimed Republicans in Congress thwarted his efforts to end the disparity. Actually, says Pollitt, in 1997 Clinton proposed *reducing* the disparity -- from 100-to-1 to 10-to-1 -- but himself resisted calls to eliminate the disparity entirely. Clinton could begin to make amends for his hypocritical support of a brutal policy by pardoning all non-violent drug offenders -- as Libertarian Party presidential candidate Harry Browne proposed during his campaign. Don't inhale -- um, hold your breath -- waiting. (Sources: DrugSense Weekly, plus publications/organizations sources mentioned in article) -- The homicidal state shares one trait with the solitary killer--like all murderers, it trips on its own egoism and drops a trail of clues which, when properly collected, preserved, and analyzed are as damning as a signed confession left in the grave. - Forensic Anthropologist Clyde Snow <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
