From: danb@zx.qsp.UUCP (Daniel Benbenisty)
Newsgroups: rec.boats
Subject: Re: Boarding(was Re: Coast Guard Boating T
Date: 22 Dec 92 01:32:02 GMT
Organization: Quality Software Products, LA, CA

In article <1992Dec17.214441.9088@progress.com> gerard@progress.COM (Gerard Bras) writes:
>jeffh@nonsuch.EBay.Sun.COM (Jeff Huntington) writes:
>>Does anyone on the net have any ideas on how boaters can band together and 
>>exert the proper pressure to fix this problem?  Do anyone know what buttons 
>>to push or where the appropriate pressure points are?  This has been going 
>>on for quite a while now, and if we don't do something together (as boaters), 
>>I am afraid it will continue for a long time. We have all kinds of laws that 
>>protect the "rights" of all kinds of citizens (both guilty and non-guilty).  
>>Seems that we should be able to get some protection for the right of boaters 
>>not to have their boats trashed in the name of drug enforcement.  If the police
>>(or Marines) were to treat ordinary citizens cars and houses this way, there 
>>would be such a howl raised that every politician in the country would be 
>>proposing a law to fix it.  I, more than most, am not in favor of more laws.
>>Still, there has to be some way to solve this problem.  What do you think?

>To come to the heart of the matter, you might want to address the general 
>failure of prohibition policies and try to get more rational drug laws
>passed.  It is my opinion that without prohibition there would be almost
>no drug related crime to worry about.  Further, given the amount of drug 
>abuse that goes on in spite of prohibition, I don't think consumption would
>increase if the purchase were made mandatory.  But this is getting away from
>boats and into my political views, so I'll leave it at that.

I think you really HAVE hit the heart of the matter.

I've read the posts of a lot of well-meaning people who don't seem to 
understand why they are treated as criminals, and that they have no
objection to the Drug War per se as long as the innocents' civil rights 
are not violated.

This is impossible.  As long as there is a war on drugs, and as long as
something so private as what substance you choose to ingest is so harshly
regulated, YOU are going to get screwed, whether or not you use drugs.
YOU are going to continue to have your boats boarded without warrents,
YOUR possessions searched and ripped to pieces, YOUR basic human rights
violated.  Unless you can think of another way to catch an occasional
smuggler?....

How can unjust laws be enforced except by unjust procedures?

In fact, with all these unjust procedures, all that America has achieved by 
the drug wars is a huge drug trade deficit, lots of very wealthy world-wide 
drug lords whose interests are best served by keeping illegal drugs illegal, 
and a Coast Guard and an entire nation of police who spend most of their 
resources jacking up the price of narcotics, without making a dent in the 
supply.  Instead, we could be taxing the stuff like cigarettes, and using
the funds for education and drug abuse programs.  And a much reduced CG and
police force could go back to serving the public.

But hey, what's a few hundred billion bucks a year in today's economy?

>>>===Pan-Handle-Dan===>	danb@qsp.com
Daniel Benbenisty		Guitarist for EARWURM		
Hopefully a soon-to-be boat-owner
Newsgroups: rec.boats