Laserfiche WebLink
cditor@a~~piac.org, dpfhi~dru~sease.org, subaaissioas@caaaabisaews.co~, O"7:~2 P1Vi O1 <br /> five cents if more humanely <br /> regulated. Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse. Hard drug addicts need <br /> humane medical care not judicial punishment adding salt to raw wounds. <br /> The thought that everybody would be free to try it and would is a red herring, anyone <br /> can buy gasoline legally, sniff <br /> it get intoxicated until their brain hemorrhages, yet few do so. <br /> We offer the opinion that such a church would be a welcome relief to this failed war on <br /> drugs; which is more harmful to society than is drug abuse; sanctuary is a historical <br /> even traditional role of the church against similar and once legal blasphemies like <br /> slavery . <br /> Currently there is no claim of religious sanctuary for opium use being made, so this is <br /> another red herring, which <br /> implies falsely the harm from opium to the relatively harmless cannabis. It is both <br /> illogical and wrong to deny the <br /> religious use of a harmless herb because a different herb is considered harmful. <br /> A far better target for editorial angst is the river of corruption polluting the police <br /> departments both here, and <br /> nationally; the headwaters of this malignancy is the cesspool known as the drug war. <br /> Law enforcement double dips <br /> even locally; after all if $50,000 is stolen directly from the Kona evidence room how <br /> much is stolen before it ever gets there? Why are so many eradication missions flown at <br /> peak harvest times when the most profitable contraband could be ripped off? If police <br /> have a moral culture where they will cheat themselves out of promotions, then what will <br /> the public be cheated, and to what extent? Given recent events one wonders if there is <br /> a higher crime rate per capita among Hawaii police, than among the general <br /> population? The evident corruption of the police is a far greater harm to society than <br /> will ever come from someone offering cannabis in worship. <br /> bcommandC~we sthawautoday. com <br /> <br /> Printed for "l~ev. Dennis Shields" <~ona~old(r~,l~oaaco~st.coaa> 3 <br /> <br />