DdC

Dennis Kucinich: A safe, free and just America is undermined, not bolstered, by the costly and ineffective War on Drugs. While well-intentioned, this misguided policy-- which emphasizes criminalization over treatment-- has led to increased violent crime, misdirected resources of law enforcement andrestricted Constitutional liberties.

Despite billions spent yearly on the drug war, addiction is up. Our country must rethink a policy that produces many casualties, but benefits only the prison-industrial complex. Non-violent drug offenders often receive Draconian sentences, tearing apart families.

Racial bias in the enforcement of drug laws is pervasive. According to a Human Rights Watch report based on FBI statistics, blacks were arrested on drug charges at nearly five times the rate of whites. Drug use is consistent across racial and socioeconomic lines -- yet in the state of New York, for example, 94 percent of incarcerated drug offenders are Latino or African-American, mostly from poor communities.

Countries in Europe and elsewhere are turning away from failed policies. They are treating addiction as a medical problem and are seeing significant reductions in crime and violence -- with fewer young people becoming involved with addictive drugs in the first place. In our country, due to misplaced priorities and resources, only one bed exists for every ten people who apply for drug treatment. Addiction is a medical and moral problem that should be treated by professionals, not dumped on the criminal justice system.

Most Americans believe that medical marijuana should be available to help relieve the suffering of seriously ill patients, and eight states have passed laws to allow it. But the Bush administration has harassed medical marijuana patients in an effort to assert federal authority. This is another aspect of the drug war that should be ended.

-- Dennis Kucinich

Subject: Dennis Kucinich on the failed War On Drugs
From: corvus.studios@veriz on.net
Date: Thu, 22 May 2003
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Get the word out!

Ever wonder what it says about American culture and psyche when you watch TV and you see an ad from the drugwar campaign and it is followed within the next two hours by half a dozen ads FOR drugs?

Ron: "Don't forget that the idiots at Partnership For a Drug-Free America, who makes those obnoxious anti-marijuana commercials, is TOTALL AND COMPLETELY FUNDED BY THE WORLD'S SECOND LARGEST LIQUOR COMPANY, SEAGRAM'S !!!!

Claudia Slate - National Campaign Volunteer - Online Activist Specialist
<a href="http://www.kucinich.us" target="_blank">http ://www.kucinich.us</A>

<a href="http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3 463" target="_blank">NORM L?What Are Your Elected Officials' Positions on Marijuana?</a>

<a href="http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5 210" target="_blank">Denn is J. Kucinich</a>

<a href="http://www.kucinich.us" target="_blank">Denn is Kucinich for President.</a>

Dennis J. Kucinich
August 7, 1997
Lakewood, Ohio 44107

Dear Mr.,

Thank you for contacting me about Rep. Barney Frank's medical marijuana bill and H.R. 41, the "Drug Importer Death Penalty Act" introduced by Rep. Newt Gingrich. I appreciated hearing from you.

It is important to recognize that these are complex problems with no easy answers. I will try to support efforts to expand drug education awareness, drug prevention and drug treatment programs at the local state, and federal levels. I believe that each state should decide whether or not marijuana should be used as a medical treatment.

Because I believe in the sanctity of life, I am opposed to any legislation that would require the death penalty for convicted criminals. I have no plans to co-sponsor this legislation. That being said, I am concerned that the use of illegal drugs in the United States is growing at an increasing rate, particularly among adolescents. Again, I believe we must make every effort to design and implement effective, successful strategies and educational programs which reduce illegal drug use.

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me. Please keep in touch about issues that are important to you.

Sincerely,

Dennis J. Kucinich
Member of Congress
updated: Apr 05, 2002

<a href="http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5 597" target="_blank">Educ ation Coalition</a>
Holds Capitol Hill Press Conference To Protest Federal Bill Barring Financial Aid To Students

While I don't condone drug use, I disagree with the idea of using the federal financial aid system to punish people who have been convicted ofrelatively minor drug convictions," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). He was joined by Reps. Tom Allen (D-ME), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Bobby Scott (D-VA) and representatives from Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), among others.

<a href="http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=1 4059" target="_blank">The Brutal War on Medical Marijuana</a>

<a href="http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v12n3/12303dob.html" target="_blank">Lett er from Rick Doblin, Ph.D., MAPS President</a>

The other article in this issue is a sweeping discussion of the mystical experience illuminated by science, informed by politics, and endowed with a compassionate and courageous cat[ to action. The article is the text of a speech by U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) focusing on the political implications of the mystical experience of unity. Rep. Kucinich's speech, which we have embellished with related images, is a rare attempt to trace the Links between the mystical experience and personal and social change. It's not at all intended to be a psychedelic manifesto. Nevertheless, since psychedelics are arguably the most powerful and reliable catalysts of mystical experiences, the speech provides one of the clearest explanations I've ever read of how helping to create legal contexts for psychedelic experiences is potentially so transformative and life-affirming. It's no accident of history that the oldest and most continuous use of psychedelics has been in religious/spiritual contexts. Yet as Prof. Huston Smith astutely observes, spiritual experiences aren't the same as a spiritual life, which requires constant work grounding the insights of the unitive experience into daily life through incremental steps.

<a href="http://www.dcpoliticalrepor t.com/pres04ballot.htm" target="_blank">DC's Political Report: 2004 Presidential Minor Party Candidates</a>

<a href="http://www.kucinich.net/contact.htm" target="_blank">http ://www.kucinich.net/contact.htm</A>

<a href="http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohi bitionwhyitstimetole galize.showMessage?t opicID=105.topic" target="_blank">The assassins of youth...DARE/PDFA</a>

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LennyHendrix

kucinich is kind of a nutty far left fucker

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skeedz me