From: hagerp@moose.cs.indiana.edu (Paul Hager)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs,talk.politics.drugs
Subject: WoD: Frontline Report -- meeting a POW (19-Aug-92)
Date: 20 Aug 92 18:31:07 GMT
Organization: Computer Science, Indiana University


	In past reports and sundry postings, I've made reference
to both Operation Smokescreen -- a "garden supply store sting"
operation run by Indiana and the Feds -- and one of its victims,
a local Bloomington resident by the name of Dale Meyers.  It will
be recalled that Dale was being held without bond after being charged
with possession, with intent to distribute, of 100 or so cannabis
plants.  Dale remained incarcerated until after a delegation of
Bloomingtonians -- including a Nobel laureate -- appeared at a hearing
to set bond.  He was finally released on $10K bond, late last month.

	Dale showed up at last night's (19-Aug) HCRC meeting and I
finally got a chance to meet the fellow who I had only known through
several phone conversations.  Dale is a quiet, unassuming fellow and
hardly the master criminal and arch fiend that the state's drug warriors
portray him as being.  Dale, it turns out, was the "big fish" in the
operation, in terms of the number of plants confiscated.  As we
talking about his situation, Dale revealed that there may have been
another factor explaining the way the authorities treated him.

	Dale mentioned, in passing, that he had been investigated
for being a "mass murderer."  How bizarre, I thought.  I sort of
jokingly queried, "Did someone think that you were killing babies
and using their blood in your drug-crazed, Satanic rituals?"  Bingo!
In fact, the state's Satanic Crime unit WAS investigating him for
the catchall "Satanic Crimes".  This is part of the drugs and Satan
propaganda that has been hyped by the religious nut fringe.  I'll
not bother to detail how Satanic Crime units have pullulated in
state and local jurisdictions around the country, nor about the
mindless hysteria that has driven this phenomenon -- both _The
Humanist_ and _Skeptical Inquirer_ have done so in great depth.
I will just note that this is an indicator of the mentalities that
have gained a foothold in the system since Ronnie Reagan and his
group embraced the moral mullahs when putting together their 
political coalition.  (Remember what's really behind the "family
values" rhetoric come election day.)

	Not surprisingly, the Satanic Crime unit didn't turn anything
up, but I've no doubt that come funding time they will cite their 
investigation of Dale in their list of "cases" and demand more money.
One of their earlier efforts was an embarrassing -- for them --
persecution of a local Bloomington religious philosopher and his
followers who were accused of child molestations and unspecified
Satanic Crimes.  All of the charges were dropped after the 
credibility of the lone complainant feel apart under public and
press scrutiny.

	So, the moral to THIS particular story is, the WoD is
part of a much larger assault on individual rights.  While some
of the drug warriors are just misinformed, and some are cynically
playing along for political gain, at the core are some very sick
and dangerous people.  Never forget that some of these people would
have been right at home in the Spain of Torquemada, the Germany of
Himmler, or the Russia of Derzhinski.

	I wished Dale luck.  He still has hope that much of the
evidence against him can be suppressed.  I have serious doubts.
Once society grants the premise that drug possession is a heinous
crime, all else follows logically.  The investigators played the
game, got their warrant, and did their "duty" under the laws.
It was unutterably sad to see this kind and decent person who
is almost certainly going to be ground up by the system.  Reflecting
on this made me more determined than ever to end this insanity
as soon a possible, if not to help Dale himself, then to help the
thousands of other people who will find themselves political prisoners
of the drug war.
-- 
paul hager		hagerp@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu

"The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason."
			-- Thomas Paine, _The Age of Reason_
Newsgroups: alt.drugs,talk.politics.drugs