 | Freedom of the press. I am being charged
as a drug kingpin because an author I gave a book advance to used the money
to cultivate medical marijuana. That's like Random House giving an author an
advance, the author buys a gun and shoots someone, and the president of
Random House is held responsible for the crime. I have owned a publishing company
since 1967. As publisher, my books have appeared five times on the New York
Times Bestseller List. If publishers are legally responsible for the actions
of authors whenever those authors are spending money from publishers, that's
not just a chilling effect on the First Amendment, that's pouring liquid
nitrogen on it. If the press does not protest about my case loud and clear,
the president of Random House may be next. Of course, long before that
happens, Random House will have stopped giving out advances to any writer
who even might put the president in jeopardy. Chilling? Antarctica. |
| Medical Marijuana. There are only two
issues in American life in which the politicians pay no attention to public
opinion polls: campaign reform and medical marijuana. No matter how long and
hard the government may rant about medical marijuana being "a cruel
hoax" (McCaffrey) or "medical quackery of the worst kind"
(Bob Barr), voters in areas as diverse as California, Arizona, and the
District of Columbia, overwhelming support a sick person's right to this
ancient and benign herb. At the moment, I am something of the poster boy of
medical marijuana. By enforcing my death, my case is probably the most egregious
example of how far the government will go to keep marijuana away from those
who medically need it. |
| The War on Drugs. Since George W.'s silent admission that he used
cocaine, there has been a flurry of press reaction to the War on Drugs. A
surprising majority of the coverage acknowledges that the War on Drugs is
"another Vietnam." These recent journalists are following in the
reasoned footsteps of other members of the press who have already reached
the same conclusion: Walter Cronkite, William F. Buckley, Jr., Hugh Downs,
Bill Moyers, Larry King, John Stossel, Geraldo Rivera, the editorial page of
the New York Times, and many others. My case, and confiscating
birdseed at the Canadian border, are two of the more absurd extremes
drug warriors will go to violate the rights of American adults to choose
which drugs to use. |
| States' rights. Three Supreme Court
decisions at the close of its last session highlight a movement toward, as
the Court put it, the "dual sovereignty" of the federal and state
governments. A growing number of people feel the Ninth and Tenth Amendments
of the Constitution have been overridden by an ever-eager federal bureaucracy
that has grabbed a disproportionate amount of power by overemphasizing the Supremacy
Clause and over-broadening the Commerce Clause. The fact that six western
states--representing 20 percent of the nation's population--have voted to
permit medical marijuana seems to have no impact whatsoever on the federal
government. Indeed, the feds have intensified their efforts to suppress
medical marijuana in the states that have had the gall to challenge
Gaul--my case being a prime example. |
| Democracy. Similar to states' rights is
voters' rights. Does it matter that we cast a ballot? Does majority rule? In
the area in which the U.S. Congress has complete autonomy, the District of
Columbia, it appears the answer to both questions is no. The passage of the
medical marijuana imitative by 69 percent of the popular vote will most
likely be defeated by Congressional fiat. Again, medical marijuana becomes
the battleground for "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
Happiness." |
| It's time the press brought back basic reporting
skills in covering the War on Drugs. When cocaine addiction reached
the white upper middle class (reporters and their bosses) in the mid-1980s
and an even more menacing "crack epidemic" was the Drug War boogey
man of the hour, the media powers-that-be determined that the War on Drugs
should be reported as one would report any other "good" war, as
was, for example, World War II. This meant government press releases were
treated as sacrosanct, those fighting the war were always right and always
heroes, and anyone opposing the war as a crackpot or a traitor. Now, the
"goodness" of the War on Drugs is being questioned from all sides.
Some who have investigated it thoroughly, myself included, consider the War
on Drugs the worst American violation of civil and human rights since
slavery. This is a war on adult citizens' right to make a free choice. All
the press needs to do is basic, objective reporting and routine
fact-checking--as I did--to discover the reality of this war. My case is the
perfect place to separate fact from governmental fiction, reality from
rhetoric, and truth from wartime propaganda. |