But if you just want to reprint something from somewhere else and call it done, fine.

And for the record, you are no longer a "single issue blog" since BTD has taken it over for Iraq. Won't be able to vote for you again. Sad, because it is very interesting to hear real lawyers discuss the issues of the day and now they effect law and how the law works.

I'm sure that's of great comfort to all those whose lives have been destroyed, not by the drugs, but by the drug laws. What is of particular note is that during the Clinton Presidency the numbers of cannabis smokers being arrested rose dramatically, from 250K to over 700K. When apprised of this on his exit from the White House, he disingenuously claimed in a Rollong Stone interview that he thought that cannabis had been decriminalized in most of the US.

In large part, the reason for the 2000 Election turning out the way it did - and much of what we have experienced as a nation since then - was because of drug law offences causing voter disenfranchisement in key States such as Florida. Given that those most negatively affected by the drug laws are minorities, the conclusion can't be any more obvious than the nose on your face. But the Dems would deny that, in this instance, they have a nose at all. Just as they have for years, by kow-towing to an exceedingly small group of very loud self-appointed morals proctors who see someone smoking a weed and fear the downfall of Western Civilization. The past two decades have seen the spectacle of Dems wimpishly trying to out-tough their Republican rivals on making drug laws increasingly punitive to avoid being slapped with the epithet of 'soft on crime'.

1. Voted for an Industrial Hemp bill in 2000.

2. Authored legislation to criminalize ephedra after some bseball player ODed.

3. Bill to allow police to pull over cars solely for seatbelt violations. He fought for, and won, an amendment keeping these stops from being the starting point for prying consent to searches.

Struggling with an epidemic of drug fatalities, New Mexico has enacted a groundbreaking law providing immunity from prosecution for people who come forward to help drug users suffering overdoses.

The act, signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Bill Richardson, prevents the authorities from prosecuting on the basis of evidence "gained as a result of the seeking of medical assistance."

It also protects drug users themselves from prosecution if the process of seeking help for an overdose provides the only evidence against them.

My research on drug issues indicates there is no set of facts about drugs that all sides agree are true. Many of the younger persons who abuse drugs also abuse alcohol which complicates treatment. Mental illness is a further complication and a person who is addicted to drugs may give a false positive result when screened for mental illness.