Robert Downey Jr. and drug legalization

A Wall Street Journal article (May 30, 2001) stated that, since 1996, George Soros and friends have spent over $20 million on state initiative campaigns designed not only to legalize marijuana under the guise of medical necessity, but also to remove consequences for so-called “non-violent” drug crimes. Is providing drugs to children a non-violent drug crime? Even when it results in overdose or death? Regardless of how it is couched, what Soros and friends want is to legalize drugs for recreational use.

Seasoned, out-of-state signature gatherers, highly paid for each signature, carried “drug reform” petitions, primarily targeting college and university campuses and the elderly. The initiatives were “packaged” as “compassion” and “medical necessity.” The legalizers have said, “Packaging is everything, and messages get packaged.” Disingenuous ads were used to convince the public that marijuana, a drug that destroys families, wreaks havoc on the immune system, impairs memory and motor skills, causes premature death of sperm cells, is associated with head and neck cancer in young users, and through pre-natal use can lead to a tenfold increase in childhood leukemia, should be made legal for anyone with a physical ailment, validating the axiom that whoever controls the media controls the mind of the public.

Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Soros-funded Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, has said that he supports “harm reduction” as an intermediate step toward full legalization. Drug policy based on harm reduction would enable users by eliminating sanctions, and making use safer, cheaper and more comfortable. Users spread drug use. Without meaningful sanctions against use, there is no deterrent. Despite the millions of lives ruined by illicit drugs, the harm reductionists’ mantra is that drug use is a personal right and a victimless crime. Tell that to families whose children have been killed or irreparably damaged by drugs.

Addiction to illegal substances is self-imposed and incurable: witness Darryl Strawberry, Robert Downey Jr. and Steve Howe. Having easy, legal, cheap access to drugs will not lessen the problem. Though drug addiction must be addressed medically, the use and anti-social, violent behavior of those under the influence of illicit drugs are criminal justice issues.

Ethan Nadelmann, George Soros and their friends have been quite clear that the use of psychoactive and addictive substances should be a personal right. That, not compassion for the sick, is what this is all about. Woe to the world if they succeed.