Pubdate: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 Source: Rock River Times (IL) Copyright: The Rock River Times 2001 Contact: http://www.rockrivertimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/539 Author: Jos. E. Hopwood CONSTITUTION OR FASCISM Dear Editor: My answer to the question raised by Mr. Simon is a simple one. To the government and anyone else who wants to meddle in my life I say, "Drop dead." The government in particular cannot under our Constitution meddle in our lives. How we treat our own bodies is our own business. Our bodies are our property and not government issue. It is to retain the freedom of our persons upon which our Constitution is predicated. Prohibition is fascism. It should never have ever been a part of our democracy. It must be cut out of the fabric of our lives before we become a theocratic police state under the control of American Talibans. I do not want the government to teach my children the morality of fascism. I want the government to say to my children, you were born free, and we, the government, are here only to serve that freedom. Our democracy was never hurt by the truth, and the truth is our government has never demonstrated, nor has it even tried to show, that drugs either harm the majority of the people, or could do harm to our Constitution or the democracy that it has created. The truth is, our government has lied about drugs, our politicians have kept their heads in the sand, and now that we are struck by foreign terrorists, our government tries to blame the addicted. The only harm from drugs for the American people is the evil caused by the drug laws themselves. Let us rise up together and end this folly, as we are not quite yet slaves of the police, our politicians or our president elected by fraud. Proud to be a free American! Jos. E. Hopwood Quantico, MD - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake