[Courtesy of Just Say Know] Visit Our Web Site: If you’re using internet explorer web browser click this link: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/home; if you’re using any other web browser click this link: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/index.html. Please pass this message on to ALL your contacts in the USA and ask them to join our mailing list using the form on our web site. THANK YOU! We never share email addresses from our mailing list with anyone. Just Say Know works on your behalf toward drug policy reform, preserving and re-instating your legal rights. Drug policy and enforcement tactics are out of control and removing your rights at an alarming rate. Your financial contributions are greatly appreciated. To make a donation reply to this message with “donation” in the subject line and an associate will contact you. Thank you for your consideration. Don’t hesitate to contact us by replying to this message; we appreciate your comments, questions and concerns. Together we will make a difference! The drug war is being used as an excuse to remove your rights, steal your property destroy your ability to earn a living and many other harms to citizens and society. There’s a mountain of evidence supporting the need for policy reform that makes citizens, their family, their livelihood and their property more secure. One very good first step will be to take away the ability of criminals to profit from marijuana. How? Just like it was done with alcohol, remove the prohibition and regulate legal adult use. As soon as alcohol prohibition was removed the crime and violence perpetrated by the gangsters who controlled alcohol during prohibition was removed. Tell your friends about the "Enough is Enough" petition to stop the reckless overuse of SWAT tactics and save the lives of civilians and police alike. This petition is sponsored by: StoptheDrugWar.org. For details, see http://ga0.org/campaign/enough_is_enough. Feature Story: THE DRUG WAR AND YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS If you need some inspiration that will no doubt stir you into taking action against the unjust war on the American people known as the drug war, take a couple of minutes and read The Declaration of Independence. Government oppression calls for strong action. Take a look at the Bill of Rights and think about how the drug war has been used as an excuse to remove the rights our founding fathers took great care to provide. Let’s not forget the reason these rights were so important was the founding fathers lived under a totalitarian government that held no regard for civil rights. That’s exactly where we’re headed if you continue to sit on your backside and think someone else will do something. It’s going to take actions by us all to get back the rights we’ve already lost to the drug war and stop more from being lost. More and more the drug warriors are working to instill hysteria among the population claiming that we’re all under attack by drug users to such a degree that we should give up our rights and freedoms in order to protect ourselves. By the way, when was the last time you were attacked by a pot smoker? The right; to freedom of religion, free speech, a free press, to keep and bear arms, to be secure in your person, house, papers and effects against unreasonable search and seizure, to life, liberty and property, to be protected from having your property taken by the government without due process of law and without just compensation, to confront the witnesses against you, to be protected from excessive bail, excessive fines, cruel and unusual punishment and to vote have been denied to millions of Americans in the name of the drug war and allegedly to protect us from these terrible drug users skulking about destroying citizens and society. In the next few newsletters we’ll be taking a closer look at each of these rights and how the drug war has damaged or removed them. If you have data or input on this topic you’d like us to publish forward it to us. References must be included. Unlike the drug warriors, we strive to only publish documented truths. It’s interesting to note that for all of recorded history except the last 100 years or so, many drugs were well known and readily available, there were no laws criminalizing their use, yet somehow vast civilizations managed to survive without falling prey to addiction or addicts. Can this be true? If so, why do we need to put people in jail for using drugs?... Our point exactly! A drug user is not necessarily a drug abuser or a drug addict or a threat to their self or society. We thought it would be interesting to explore what our founding fathers might have had to say about the drug war if they had the facts and The Declaration of Independence and Constitution to use as outlines. What we came up with was this: The Declaration to Increase the Peace We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and exercise our right to end by all means necessary the war against the American people commonly known as “The Drug War”. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principals and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light or transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown that mankind is more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute abuse of power, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the vast majority of citizens of the United States who seek drug policy reform. Being ruled by laws based not in due process nor involving scientific or medical hearings to protect the citizens from dangers but based instead on information supplied by those who have a specific agenda to deceive lawmakers and profit financially from drug prohibition must end immediately. The very first federal vote to prohibit marijuana was based entirely on a documented lie proclaimed on the floor of the Senate. It is therefore necessary to alter this law and all drug laws not based in due process involving scientific and medical evidence and government hearings which beyond reasonable doubt prove that citizens or society are in danger of harms more serious than those being perpetrated against the citizens by current drug policy and enforcement tactics. The history of drug law and its enforcement is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over the citizens. To prove this, let the facts be submitted to a candid world. Legislators have refused assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good and failed to repeal harmful laws based in misrepresentations. Legislators continue to increase more and more punitive consequences against the will of the majority of citizens who when given the facts overwhelmingly oppose these laws and punitive actions. When the first drug law was implemented 1.3% of the population was addicted to drugs. After over nine decades of drug prohibition and over a trillion tax dollars spent on prohibition, 1.3% of the population remains addicted to drugs. It is therefore evident that prohibition has had no measurable effect on drug addiction. A policy of education was enacted with regard to tobacco and almost half the smokers in the United States stopped using this highly addictive drug. Despite this overwhelming evidence of a better method for dealing with drug addiction, our legislature continues harming our health, agriculture, industry, environment, economy and citizens by enforcing the failed drug policy, escalating its harm through increased penalties and removing our constitutional rights. Regarding drug policy the government yields to the will of corporations seeking profit at the expense of the life, liberty and other constitutional rights of the citizens. Legislators are acting contrary to the health of the people by not repealing laws which prevent patients, on the recommendation of their physician, access to natural substances given them by their creator. Drug policy neglects due process in favor of tyrannical tactics designed to prevent the population from receiving factual information which is contrary to current policy and which, if known to the people would undoubtedly cause policy reform. Legislators and drug policy enforcers are illegally depriving citizens of their property and money for the sole purpose of removing their methods of defense and fatiguing them into compliance with drug policy measures. Drug policy enforcers have been given the ability through civil forfeiture to confiscate personal property and cash money belonging to law abiding citizens even when there is no evidence of illegal drug activity and to use the seized property and money to promote and fund more illegal forfeiture. Government agencies have repeatedly endeavored to dissolve the will of the people desiring to reform drug laws with untruthful propaganda flooded through the mass media paid for with tax dollars for the purpose of distorting the truth about drug use and the effects of drugs on the mind, body and society. Drug prohibition has effectively put criminals in control of all aspects of the commerce associated with any drug the government prohibits thus setting at risk the citizens who are constantly being harmed by death, underage drug use, crime, violence, disease, corruption, wasted tax dollar spending, criminal / terrorist funding and a multitude of other harmful consequences caused by this failed policy. Drug prohibition has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing to establish laws which would better address the needs of those addicted to drugs and refrain from criminal prosecution of citizens who have not harmed themselves, any other person, property or society. Cruel and unusual punishment mandated by mandatory criminal sentences has made judges dependent on the will of drug policy alone and deprived them of the ability to judge fairly based on facts presented in individual cases. Legislators in favor of drug prohibition have erected a multitude of new offices and sent forth swarms of officers to harass our people and illegally take away their property, freedom, constitutional rights and money. Drug policy has sent into our homes officers who without cause or need use military tactics against citizens. These tactics are excessively overused and unnecessarily endanger citizens, their families and the officers. These raids often include dozens of officers or agents who routinely deploy stun or flash grenades inside privately owned homes in the middle of the night, wear black military style uniforms that make it impossible for occupants to know if they are being invaded by police or bandits, cover their faces with black ski masks which often cause citizens to believe they are bandits, carry and often use excessive firepower including machineguns, shotguns attack dogs and teargas. The raids are often commenced without knocking on the door of the residence or identifying themselves as police officers or making occupants aware that a search warrant has been legally issued. These raids endanger citizens, their children, innocent occupants of the home and other innocent bystanders. Many suspects, innocent children, family members and others have suffered unnecessary physical and emotional harm and even death as a result of military style raids of this nature. Civilian suspects should be presumed innocent unless proven guilty and not regarded as a wartime enemy. Although police brutality is illegal, it is routinely practiced when conducting drug searches of private homes and without any resistance on the part of the suspect. By enacting laws which allow police agencies to seize private property and money and use these assets to fund further drug policy activities, Constitutional rights and due process are often circumvented. Drug policy has evolved which subjects citizens to laws foreign to our Constitution and giving assent to acts of pretended legality which remove our Constitutional right to: freedom of religion, free speech, a free press, keep and bear arms, be secure in our person, house, papers and effects against unreasonable search and seizure, life, liberty and property, be protected from having our property taken by the government without due process of law and just compensation, confront the witnesses against us, be protected from excessive bail, excessive fines, cruel and unusual punishment, vote. Millions of Americans every year lose these rights to the Drug War. Drug policy deprives multitudes of citizens of their right to a fair trial by threatening them with cruel and unusual punishment and in some cases mandatory prison sentences and fines, which force some innocent people to accept plea bargains and forfeit their assets and or freedom rather than face the possibility of these excessive and unwarranted punishments. By abandoning our Constitution and declaring war on our own citizens, legislators and enforcers of their unconstitutional drug policies prove their total disregard for our life, liberty and a multitude of other rights guaranteed by our Constitution. Disregard for our Constitution and inflicting death, desolation and tyranny evidenced by acts of cruelty and treachery practiced regularly through drug policy is totally unworthy of the legislation of any civilized nation and must not be tolerated. Drug war policy has forced our fellow citizens taken captive to conspire against their friends or face the cruel and unusual punishments regularly practiced through drug laws. In many cases these actions destroy families and lives. Drug war policy does not identify and attack a separate specific enemy but instead inflicts undistinguished destruction upon innocent bystanders of all ages sexes and conditions and in particular the children families and friends of the accused. We have endured unlawful demeaning searches of our most private possession, our own bodies through “drug/alcohol” tests. Most of these tests are conducted without probable cause and without a search warrant. Legislators often promote these illegal searches by granting or allowing subsidies to businesses that require such tests as a condition of employment. Laws have been implemented to insure our medical privacy from employers and others but these laws are effectively circumvented by “drug/alcohol” tests that extract body fluid or other body matter which can provide information on a multitude of health conditions including pregnancy, tobacco use, illness and much more. We have no control over what tests are performed on our body matter without our knowledge or consent. These “drug/alcohol” tests are required by most employers and are a violation of our Constitutional protection from unreasonable searches. A false positive impairs an innocent person from being employed and may result in them not being employed in the future. No study has been conducted to determine whether “drug/alcohol” testing has any measurable benefit regarding productivity or safety in the workplace. These tests are in place solely to promote legislated drug policies and provide illegal medical information to employers. They are an obstacle to employment that has no place in a free society. Considering that drug policy related corruption even at the highest levels of our government has been documented, drug education has proven much more effective than criminal prosecution and every study of the drug policy currently in place proves its utter failure beyond any shadow of a doubt, the only logical reason for the continuation of this policy is widespread corruption by those we have trusted to govern us. In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble of terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A policy whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to rule a free people. We have warned from time to time the consequences of legislators extending unwarrantable jurisdiction. We have reminded legislators of the circumstances of the citizens being oppressed and having war waged against them by their own government seeking to enforce a failed tyrannical drug policy. We have appealed to their justice and magnanimity, and we have sought through the ties of citizens and legislators common to the Constitution to disavow these usurpations which have interrupted our Constitution, our freedom, our livelihoods and in virtually every conceivable way our civil rights. We must therefore agree in the necessity to defend ourselves lawfully and swiftly through all available measures against the unlawful war which has been waged against us for decades and continues to be waged. We hold all of mankind, enemies in war and friends in peace. We therefore the citizens of the United States of America, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the righteousness of our intentions, in the name and by the authority of the citizens and being given no other option, exercise our right to declare war on all who have declared war against us. With firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. ----------------------------------------------------------- This country is still run by the people but if you sit around waiting on someone else, it may be your door that gets kicked in, it may be you that’s sick and gets shot by the government for using marijuana to relieve your pain, chemo reactions or other illness, it may be your children, money, livelihood or property that get taken away. Property is sometimes confiscated with no evidence and no legal recourse. Think this is a fairytale? Click here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/snitch/readings/hidden.html . The drug war and its devastating effects on society must be stopped. Stand up, call, email, write letters or go see your elected representatives. Click here to locate and contact your congressional representatives https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml . The life you save may be your own or a loved one’s. Consider this, what would you do if you or someone you loved was sick or dying and a licensed physician said marijuana could help heal the condition or relieve the suffering? TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA AND POLICY REFORM. One of the most eye opening sources of information about why the drug war needs to end is a video produced by “LEAP” Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. If you haven’t seen it yet please take a few minutes and view it now. Here’s a link to the video: http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=28 You can get a wealth of information by visiting our web site and clicking “Web Links” in the site map. If you’re using internet explorer web browser use this link: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/home. If you’re using any other web browser use this link: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/index.html.