Before I post the two letters, I regret to inform you that I lost the original sent back in November 99. Regardless, I finally received a reply from him in January, and I was greatly disappointed in his statements. Also included is my refute, sent in February. To this day, McCain has still not responded.
Dear Ms. deleted,
Thank you for contacting me with your views regarding legalizing narcotics. I appreciate learning your opinions regarding this critical issue.
I reject the notion that legalization of drugs would be in the best interest of our country. Legalization would not reduce the usage of sales of drugs, nor would it alleviate the suffering and damage they cause. To allow drugs such as crack, heroin, cocaine and marijuana to be sold legally would increase the chances that individuals, particularly our nation's youth, would use them.
Assertions that promoting the legalization of drugs would reduce crime are not supported by facts. In my view, legalization would most certainly result in increased usage and addiction, which would then lead to increased crime as desperate individuals sought to obtain the means necessary to satisfy their habit. For these reasons, I cannot support legalizing narcotics.
Illegal narcotics inflict great damage on our society, devastates the lives of individuals and families. Drug addiction endangers the well-being of our children, and thus the future of this nation. All segments of our society, including the government, must work together to fight against narcotics if we hope to ever rid this nation of their polluting influence.
While there is no immediate, simple solution to the drug problems our nation faces, I do believe that legalization would be a serious error. I have supported anti-drug initiatives in the past and will carefully review their implementations and future proposals to ensure that our efforts achieve tangible results in an effective matter.
Best Regards,
Sen. John McCain
Dear Sen. McCain,
Congratulations on your victories in the Michigan and Arizona Primaries. As a registered voter in the state of Minnesota I have been following the developments of your campaign against George W. Bush, and I have been pleasantly surprised. I agree wholeheartedly that we are in need of some serious reform in some areas of our government, just like an automobile needs a tune-up.
I happened across one of your form letter responses while surfing on the Internet that rose some questions in my head about some of your stances. I understand you are busy with running for president, so let my say thanks ahead of time for reading this and giving it some thought.
Let me just say, that I don't think anyone wants to see our nation's children grow up hooked on drugs, and that a serious effort must be made to reduce the ease in which kids have access to illegal drugs now. I think it is fair to say that the current way of dealing with the Drug Problem in this country is a dismal failure, and is actually counterproductive in every fashion.
While I agree with you that legalization would not decrease usage of drugs, nor would it alleviate the suffering that drug abuse causes, it would however, alleviate the additional suffering that is put on the Drug Abuser as well as Drug Users by processing them through the criminal justice system. Drug Abuse is a medical problem, like alcoholism, and should be treated with medical professionals. This can be done on a simple outpatient basis where the recovering abuser's life and family is disrupted as little as possible for treatment of a very real problem.
How we are currently doing it is arresting and processing the Drug Abuser through the courts. This has caused our courts to become over burdened, pushing the trials of truly dangerous violent criminals further back, allowing them more time on the streets while on bond, and making it virtually impossible for anyone to exercise their Constitutional Right to a fair and speedy trial by jury. On Feb. 15th, we acknowledged a special occurrence. It was when America, land of the free, locked up its two-millionth prisoner. I find this deeply disturbing, and outrageous.
And finally while I can appreciate your dedication to ensuring that our children have the safest and most nurturing environment possible for their schooling and family life, I simply cannot agree that the Drug War is a positive factor in creating that. First, disqualifying people from student loan eligibility for doing the same thing that a presidential candidate admits to doing in his youth is hypocritical and flat wrong. You can commit a murder or a rape and still get your student loans, but smoke a joint and you're cut off.... I cannot understand how we make a better America with that policy.
Secondly, If we were to legalize every drug, put it in a store, and put a store across from every single school in this country. We would still have less places for America's Youth to get their drugs than what we have now. One only has to look at the surveys, where over half of all high school and middle school kids said it was very easy to get hold of marijuana, and other more dangerous and addictive drugs.
At least a store would have an age limit like what is in place for alcohol and cigarettes (which kill 6 times and 20 times as many people per year respectively that ALL illegal drugs combined). And while it will not prevent our youth from experimenting with drugs, we will make it more difficult for them to get the drugs, and have a place to hold accountable for selling the drugs to a minor.
I look forward to hearing your response. I have posted this on the Internet, and would like to post your reply as well, so that the American people can read and understand your stance on this truly important issue.
Thank you.
Oh, and Sen. McCain? Marijuana is not a narcotic; please remove it from your personal list.
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