T.O.K.E. News presents:Leave Holland's dope scene there!

Leave Holland's dope scene there

The following appeared in the Letters to the Editor section of the Herald Tribune (Florida?) on August 27, 2002. I found it on the Moreover powered Up 2 The Minute newsagent on T.O.K.E.

I immediately fired off this response. I have not heard if they published it though.

TOKE - NEWS News from the "real" world TOKE-NEWS While the debate rages on - in the real world ARRESTS are up and Peoples lives are being destroyed!

The following appeared in the Letters to the Editor section of the Herald Tribune (Florida?) on August 27, 2002. I found it on the Moreover powered Up 2 The Minute newsagent on T.O.K.E.
I immediately fired off this response. I have not heard if they published it though.

Leave Holland's dope scene there

Kathleen Parker, in her column printed Aug. 20 in the Herald-Tribune> ("In drug war, honesty is best"), advocates the legalization of marijuana. She reasons that in some way we would all benefit because such legalization would be honest. I trust she doesn't suggest that the parents of schoolchildren would consider themselves beneficiaries of her plan. If we have a problem now with the use and sale of drugs in schools, how bad does she think it would be if drugs were legalized for adults? Where does she think the current supplies sold to our schoolchildren come from?
While it may be true that marijuana is not physically addictive, I am sure Ms. Parker understands the concept of gateway or threshold drugs. Figures from the National Institute of Drug Abuse indicate that 70 percent to 75 percent of hard-drug users began their drug use with marijuana.
However, let's look at how this plan worked in real life in Holland. That country's experiment with legalization is now about 30 years old. If Ms. Parker walked the streets of Amsterdam she would observe a subculture of juvenile and adult potheads and addicts lying in alleys and doorways, day and night. Amsterdam has become the drug supermarket of Europe. Every weekend people flock to Holland from all over Europe to stock up and then return home, where addiction is on the rise. The Dutch government is beginning to understand the social consequences of its "enlightened" drug policy, which seemed so promising 30 years ago. The country is now beginning to try to deal with these consequences by reinstituting tougher laws and controls.
We are trying to teach our children and, for that matter, all our citizens the serious health dangers from smoking tobacco. What kind of a message are we sending when at the same time suggesting that we legalize cannabis?
Frank P. Rock Sarasota
Article published Aug 27, 2002 from www.heraldtribune.com
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(The following response was sent 8/27/02 - Let's see if they publish it!!!)

Frank P Rock while being earnest in his dissent "Leave Holland's dope scene there" proves why disinformation or misinformation in the so-called war on drugs is so prevalent!
His comments about Amsterdam are very misguided at best and untrue at worst!
1) The increase of drug use is ECSTASY an illegal an unregulated drug! And there is no "re-instituting of tougher laws and stricter controls"
2) I have been to Amsterdam twice this YEAR and saw no potheads lying in the streets ANYWHERE! Juveniles can get ecstasy easier than then can get marijuana! What I see are thousands of law abiding individuals from all over the world contributing to the economy, behaving themselves while partaking in legal intoxicants! The difference between a coffeeshop and a bar? The Police are never called to a Coffeeshop to break up a fight or disturbance!
And contrary to what Mr. Rock states, instead of filling other countries with "marijuana addicts", other countries are beginning to see the light! Britain, Switzerland, Jamaica, among MANY OTHERS are beginning to understand Holland and are instituting SANE and reasonable drug laws, some refusing to arrest cannabis users (Britain) others (Switzerland) you can walk into a shop and purchase a clone (marijuana plant)
Prohibition does not work! Disinformation the tactic of those against sane and reasonable drug laws will not work any longer! While Asa Hutchinson lies to good people like Frank, who then extrapolate statistics that aren't real (75% figure, actually even NIDA admits there is no proof that marijuana is the gateway or as Amsterdam believes, the fact that it is illegal is the gateway!)
Lastly, what we tell our children is that like alcohol and tobacco there is a substance called Marijuana that some adults use. Unlike tobacco, which kills thousands (1st hand and 2nd hand), and alcohol, which is a leading cause of death to innocents through DWI crashes, marijuana has never been documented as causing a single fatality! That it was used therapeutically since the time of Emperor Shen Nung (2700bc) and that Eli Lilly produced it in 1913. That you should research the lies and deception of Anslinger and Hearst who started a campaign to take a benign American crop hemp and turn it into the devils weed!
That while a person would be better off if they didn't put any foreign substances in their body it's better for the country to end prohibition and stop arresting sick and dying people and people who prefer a safer intoxicant than currently sanctioned by the Gov.
I invite Frank to be my guest at the 2002 Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam this year, and see for himself what is fact and what is fiction. At the least, if he writes me, I will send him the National Drug Monitor Cannabis Policy Fact Sheet Update 2000 so he can read for himself the facts and not get it second hand from Asa/Nida or the Partnership for a Truth Free America!
Brother John High New York City, NY
www.tucmh.org www.toke.org
Brother John is a minister working to end Prohibition in our time.

Kathleen Parker, in her column printed Aug. 20 in the Herald-Tribune> ("In drug war, honesty is best"), advocates the legalization of marijuana. She reasons that in some way we would all benefit because such legalization would be honest. I trust she doesn't suggest that the parents of schoolchildren would consider themselves beneficiaries of her plan. If we have a problem now with the use and sale of drugs in schools, how bad does she think it would be if drugs were legalized for adults? Where does she think the current supplies sold to our schoolchildren come from?
While it may be true that marijuana is not physically addictive, I am sure Ms. Parker understands the concept of gateway or threshold drugs. Figures from the National Institute of Drug Abuse indicate that 70 percent to 75 percent of hard-drug users began their drug use with marijuana.
However, let's look at how this plan worked in real life in Holland. That country's experiment with legalization is now about 30 years old. If Ms. Parker walked the streets of Amsterdam she would observe a subculture of juvenile and adult potheads and addicts lying in alleys and doorways, day and night. Amsterdam has become the drug supermarket of Europe. Every weekend people flock to Holland from all over Europe to stock up and then return home, where addiction is on the rise. The Dutch government is beginning to understand the social consequences of its "enlightened" drug policy, which seemed so promising 30 years ago. The country is now beginning to try to deal with these consequences by reinstituting tougher laws and controls.
We are trying to teach our children and, for that matter, all our citizens the serious health dangers from smoking tobacco. What kind of a message are we sending when at the same time suggesting that we legalize cannabis?
Frank P. Rock Sarasota
Article published Aug 27, 2002 from www.heraldtribune.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------

(The following response was sent 8/27/02 - Let's see if they publish it!!!)

Frank P Rock while being earnest in his dissent "Leave Holland's dope scene there" proves why disinformation or misinformation in the so-called war on drugs is so prevalent!
His comments about Amsterdam are very misguided at best and untrue at worst!
1) The increase of drug use is ECSTASY an illegal an unregulated drug! And there is no "re-instituting of tougher laws and stricter controls"
2) I have been to Amsterdam twice this YEAR and saw no potheads lying in the streets ANYWHERE! Juveniles can get ecstasy easier than then can get marijuana! What I see are thousands of law abiding individuals from all over the world contributing to the economy, behaving themselves while partaking in legal intoxicants! The difference between a coffeeshop and a bar? The Police are never called to a Coffeeshop to break up a fight or disturbance!
And contrary to what Mr. Rock states, instead of filling other countries with "marijuana addicts", other countries are beginning to see the light! Britain, Switzerland, Jamaica, among MANY OTHERS are beginning to understand Holland and are instituting SANE and reasonable drug laws, some refusing to arrest cannabis users (Britain) others (Switzerland) you can walk into a shop and purchase a clone (marijuana plant)
Prohibition does not work! Disinformation the tactic of those against sane and reasonable drug laws will not work any longer! While Asa Hutchinson lies to good people like Frank, who then extrapolate statistics that aren't real (75% figure, actually even NIDA admits there is no proof that marijuana is the gateway or as Amsterdam believes, the fact that it is illegal is the gateway!)
Lastly, what we tell our children is that like alcohol and tobacco there is a substance called Marijuana that some adults use. Unlike tobacco, which kills thousands (1st hand and 2nd hand), and alcohol, which is a leading cause of death to innocents through DWI crashes, marijuana has never been documented as causing a single fatality! That it was used therapeutically since the time of Emperor Shen Nung (2700bc) and that Eli Lilly produced it in 1913. That you should research the lies and deception of Anslinger and Hearst who started a campaign to take a benign American crop hemp and turn it into the devils weed!
That while a person would be better off if they didn't put any foreign substances in their body it's better for the country to end prohibition and stop arresting sick and dying people and people who prefer a safer intoxicant than currently sanctioned by the Gov.
I invite Frank to be my guest at the 2002 Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam this year, and see for himself what is fact and what is fiction. At the least, if he writes me, I will send him the National Drug Monitor Cannabis Policy Fact Sheet Update 2000 so he can read for himself the facts and not get it second hand from Asa/Nida or the Partnership for a Truth Free America!
Brother John High New York City, NY
www.tucmh.org www.toke.org
Brother John is a minister working to end Prohibition in our time.