Roar Mikalsen - HUMAN RISING - radiofri..

Forbudstilhengernes motstand mot fornyelsen
Forbudstilhengerne vil så klart si at de har sitt på det tørre oppi dette: De vil si
at de hele tiden har støttet seg på forskningsbildet som har vært tilgjengelig, og
at de selv har gjort så godt de kan for å bidra til å klarlegge problemstillingen.
Men som vi har vært inne på, har forskningsbildet vært forvridd i
forbudstilhengernes favør, og som vi har sett har de så langt som mulig avstått
fra debatten på grunn av ”signaleffekten”. Det har derfor bare vært
forbudstilhengernes overlagte ignoranse, de enorme budsjettene deres, samt
folks overdrevne tillit til sine autoriteter, som har muliggjort det ensidige
fokuset på problembildet frem til i dag. Dommer Gray forteller her hvordan
forbudsforkjemperne har styrt unna enhver informert debatt:
”Talk to someone who has attempted to organize a public discussion, as opposed to a
speech about our drug policy, and you will find that public officials favoring the
continuation of our drug policies will almost never attend. This has happened to me on
many occasions. For example, at the meeting of the World Affairs Council in Orange
County, General McCaffrey was invited to participate in a debate on drug policy. He
responded that he did not have time to be involved in a debate — but he did have time
to give a speech. The same thing happened when Dr. Lee Brown, the Drug Czar under
President Bush, spoke at a drug policy forum at the Harward Law School. Without
taking any questions, he left the hall and went downstairs to talk to the press. Since I
was scheduled to speak directly after Dr. Brown, I offered half of my time to him if he
would only stay and answer questions from the audience present. He refused.” 146
James Ostrowski, viseforman i New York County Lawyers Association
Committee on Law Reform, påpeker forbudstilhengernes manglende evne
(eller vilje) til å forsvare sitt ståsted slik:
“In 1988, I wrote to Vice President George Bush, then head of the South Florida Drug
Task Force; to Education Secretary William Bennett; to Assistant Secretary of State for
Drug Policy Ann Wrobleski; to White House drug policy adviser Dr. Donald I. McDonald;
and to the public information directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug
Enforcement Administration, General Accounting Office, National Institute of Justice,
and National Institute on Drug Abuse. None of these officials was able to cite any study
that demonstrated the beneficial effects of drug prohibition when weighed against its
costs. The leaders of the war on drugs are apparently unable to defend on rational
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