From Alex Reynolds Sent Tue, Apr 13th 1999, 20:27
>Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 17:32:03 -0400 >From: Rjyan C Kidwell <xxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx> >Subject: RE: (idm) reynolds vs reynolds > >it's one thing to do drugs, it's another thing entirely to say that >your drug use is a revolutionary political statement. how can >you stand up for what you believe in if you can't stand up? That's the quote of the year, in my book. The narcotics economy is best described as 'trickle-up.' Poor addicts funnel cash up to the wealthy -- and the cash is usually obtained by ripping off people who live in the same low-income neighborhood, doubling the repressive political effects. If anything, the drug economy perpetuates itself by concentrating tax-free, high-interest money and power in the hands of people who have every motivation to maintain the status quo. If you want proof that fighting addiction by opening needle clinics and channeling addicts into programs works, look at the fact that it just isn't done, that we're still a couple decades into Bennett's high-calibre Drug War. Politicians and bankers profit nothing when the poor aren't distracted or thrown into prison on drug offenses. Let's not even get into the fact that once you have a record, you're not allowed to vote. There's nothing rebellious about transferring your money (or someone else's money) into some rich asshole's Swiss bank accounts. Off the soapbox and heading for the showers... __________________________________________________________________________ Alex Reynolds E xxxxxxxx@xxx.xxxxx.xxx UPenn : SAS Computing : Biology Dist Support V +1 215 573 2818 http://www.sas.upenn.edu/biology/ F +1 215 898 8780 'The central message of Buddhism is not "every man for himself"!' -- Wanda