A phony war defeats free speech

[teach1st]

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/02/22/Columns/A_phony_war_defeats_f.shtml

St. Petersburg Times, by ROBYN E. BLUMNER, Published February 22, 2004

The beauty of Jefferson's marketplace of ideas is that it opens our society to all voices and all arguments, presuming the most persuasive will rise to the top.

But those who promote the War on Drugs find this a dangerous concept. Drug reform makes too much sense and in recent years has been too compelling to voters. Already, seven states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana through voter initiatives (and two more states through legislation) and a recent Gallup poll shows that 74 percent of Americans are on that side of the issue.

To combat this outbreak of common sense, the drug warriors have fought back with antidemocratic and repressive methods.

In the mid-1990s, the Cato Institute had its tax-exempt status threatened by a New York Republican congressman incensed over the think tank's sponsorship of a program on the failed drug war.

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(Edited to fix a link)

[teryang]

1. Great article, thanks!

The St. Pete Times is one of the country's great newspapers.