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Editorial:
Is
This
News?
12/22/00
David Borden, Executive
Director, [email protected]
A headline flashed across
the bottom of the CNN screen a few days ago, about kids at a South Dakota
high school being caught selling marijuana in the school's parking lot.
My question about this is,
is this news?
Certainly it's news for the
townsfolk, and not a very merry Christmas for the kids, nor for their parents.
But is it national news?
Don't get me wrong.
I don't want kids selling drugs, or using drugs, any more than anybody
else does, not even marijuana.
But is it news?
One of the most important
reasons for ending drug prohibition is the exposure to criminality and
the criminal underground that our young people receive via the drug trade.
Prohibition creates that underground market, while failing to curtail use.
Instead of being sold through licit venues, with age restrictions and other
appropriate regulation, illegal drugs thrive in the shadows, purveyed by
sellers who in substantial part are happy to sell to or employ minors.
This illicit market spreads criminality, sometimes violence, throughout
our society and around the world.
Even into the schools.
South Dakota and everywhere else.
But that's not really news,
or at least it shouldn't be. A drug free high school, on the other
hand, if one could be found, that would be news.
But to anyone who's been
paying attention, drug selling in the parking lot, that's not news.
That's prohibition.
-- END --
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Issue #165, 12/22/00
When is Salad Dressing a Drug? DEA Proposes Restrictive Interim Rule Barring Hemp Foods, Industry & Proponents Gear Up | Mexican Banker Tied to Drug Dealing (and Presidents) Sues Narco News, Mexican Paper | The Needle I: In New York State, Over-the-Counter Syringe Sales Begin January 1st | The Needle II: Federal Lawsuits in New York City and Connecticut Challenge Police Harassment of Needle Exchange Programs | The Needle III: In California, Ventura County Wants Needle Exchange, San Diego Throws Up a Roadblock | DOT Issues New Drug Testing Rules, 8.5 Million Workers Get a Little More Protection | At the Movies: The Buzz on Traffic | Newsbriefs: Florida Grand Jury Recommends More of the Same Drug War Policies, Polk County Commissioners Race to be Tested | The Insider: Grant Info, Call for Articles, Job Listings | The Reformer's Calendar | Editorial: Is This News?
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