From: gabe@happy.cc.utexas.edu (Gabriel Demombynes)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,alt.hemp,alt.drugs
Subject: Article on Legalization
Date: 11 Mar 1994 14:42:57 -0600
Message-ID: <2lql4h$qqv@happy.cc.utexas.edu>

I want to thank everyone who responded to my "Notable People for
Legalization" request.  You all were very helpful.  Here's my column that
was published Thursday in the Daily Texan, the student paper here at UT. 
Most of the research info came from Internet sources.

*********
Support swells for legal drugs

Gabriel Demombynes
TEXAN COLUMNIST

   In recent months, discussion of drug legalization has vaulted from the 
pages of High Times and obscure academic journals onto the front page of 
The New York Times. Prominent people are talking seriously about changing 
the direction of America's drug policy.
   The shift in sentiment can be traced to an effort begun a year ago in 
California. Several notable names gathered at Stanford University's Hoover 
institution to draft and sign a letter demanding a fresh look at drug 
policy.
   The original signatories included Nobel-laureate economist Milton 
Friedman, former Secretary of State George Shultz, Baltimore Mayor Kurt 
Schmoke and about 20 others.
   Since the initial meeting, hundreds of doctors, businessmen, attorneys, 
educators, judges and members of the clergy have signed the resolution. 
Among them are the mayors and police chiefs of San Francisco, Oakland and 
San Jose; 20/20 correspondent Hugh Downs; and members of the California 
Medical Association.
   On Feb. 27, The New York Times printed a similar proclamation by another 
Nobel laureate, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He's convinced more than 2,000 of 
his Latin American intellectual buddies to sign the statement declaring 
that we must "focus on the various ways in which legalization can be 
administered. This means putting an end to the self-seeking, pernicious, 
useless war that the consuming countries have inflicted on us."
   To protest the inanity of our drug policy, roughly 50 of the nation's 
680 federal judges now refuse to accept drug cases. One researcher surveyed 
450 judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys and found that 95 percent 
believe "the drug war has failed and more innovative measures are needed."
   The Feb. 28 Time included a pro-legalization column by respected writer 
Barbara Ehrenreich. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders says that we would 
"markedly reduce our crime rate" by legalizing drug use. The Economist last 
year editorialized in favor of legalization. Conservative pundit William 
Buckley has said, "If you had all the facts, you would agree like me that 
marijuana should be legal."
   This political change has begun to gather momentum because the Hoover 
signatories explicitly shied away from advocating a specific new policy. 
Some favor merely making marijuana available for medical uses. Others want 
comprehensive drug legalization.
   All are part of the movement -- which has made for some strange 
bedfellows. Just imagine Friedman phoning up Garcia Marquez:
   Friedman: "Gabriel, it's Milt. What's say you and me and Joy Elders get 
together to discuss this drug legalization stuff?"
   Garcia Marquez: "Last night I awoke from the desperate slumber of a man 
who has tasted his lover's tears. In my bliss I felt a prescient 
understanding. Next Tuesday two men and a woman will meet on the zocalo in 
San Cristobal. While passionate men die on the streets in the name of 
revolution, the three friends will sip cafe con leche and whisper their 
desires."
   Friedman: "OK, so I'll see you Tuesday. But you're buying. I don't carry 
any of that Mexican funny money."
   The curious coalition shows no sign of breaking up. A proposal now being 
considered in Congress would charge a national commission with recommending 
a new national drug policy. The resolution has 17 co-sponsors in the House 
and five backers in the Senate.
   Mark Smith, UT assistant professor of American studies and history, 
teaches a class in the "Cultural History of Alcohol and Drugs." He says the 
hardliners "have been discredited because they've been in power and their 
results have been absurd."
   It's already possible to talk about legalization without having a "Dope 
Fiend" label pasted across one's chest. Perhaps within the next decade the 
nation will adopt a drug policy rooted in reason rather than hysteria.
   Demombynes is a Plan II/civil engineering senior.

******
Thanks again,
Gabe