Alan --
Alan Fletcher wrote in a message to Alex Vasauskas:
 > Why do you consider marijuana to be an evil?
 AF>  Any substance...either natural or artificial..which intereferes 
 AF> with rather than promoting body functions (IOW any substance which 
 AF> is not merely nutritious) is not conducive to good health and  well
 AF> being (i.e. whether addictive or not) and can thus merely  "treat"
 AF> some symptom rather than initiate a body cure.
What about using intoxicating substances "medicinally" or "spiritually"
to occasionally get out of one's head for emotionally cathartic or
stress-relieving purposes, or for religious purposes?  Neither of these
uses are necessarily good for the body, but they may be good for a
person's emotional and spiritual well-being.  This is a benefit that
is recognized and sought in cultures that may be categorized as
Dionysian, as opposed to fundamentally reserved and sober
"Apollonian" cultures like Germany or the United States, with
its Puritan foundation.
 >  AF>  I would totally disagree that prohibition helps a government grow
 >  AF> and become more powerful. It merely breeds people like 'ol Al
 >  AF> Capone and his mob.
 > Prohibition naturally raises prices of things people demand, thereby
 > encouraging lawbreaking for profit.  But, in the U.S.A. prohibition
 > has also increased the power and size of government in terms of
 > an expanded military, expanded and new police agencies, more prisons,
 > and the erosion of civil rights and civil liberties in the name of
 > fighting the crime created by prohibition.
 AF>  Then we here must be doing something wrong....i.e. despite the
 AF> same  prohibition we do not have either enough police or enough
 AF> prisons  or even enough judges even for the crimes not associated
 AF> with  drug use. This is because a lot of people have legal
 AF> insurance  and drown the courts and overtax the police with petty,
 AF> stupid  complaints (mostly against neighbours). In addition, we
 AF> lack a  National Guard which does not have to concern itself with
 AF> things  like traffic offences and noise complaints etc..
I wasn't suggesting that the U.S. government was being any more
successful in making prohibition effective.  My point was that
the government was benefiting in terms of power and growth.  And,
notwithstanding the growth of government, police, and prisons due
to prohibition, government still complains that we need more
government, police, and prisons (even though the U.S. is now the
no. 1 country in the world in incarcerating its citizens).
Albert Einstein and our former President Abraham Lincoln had
observations on this:
    "The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered
considerably by the Prohibition law.  For nothing is more
destructive of respect for the government and the law of the
land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open
secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is
closely connected with this."
Albert Einstein
"My First Impression of the U.S.A."
interview, 1921, reprinted in
_Ideas and Opinions_ (Bonanza Books)
"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of
temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes
beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's
appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not
crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon
which our government was founded." 
 
   -Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) U.S. President. 
 
   Speech, 18 Dec. 1840, to Illinois House of Representatives
Bests,
Alex
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