1998 Ron Paul 45:1
Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself that time that I might consume.
1998 Ron Paul 45:2
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is recognized for as much time as he may consume.
1998 Ron Paul 45:3
Mr. PAUL.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to
this bill, not so much in any objection
to what the goals are. The goals are
very laudable. The first time I read
this resolution, I was in agreement
with everything until the very end. Then I had some disagreements with it.
1998 Ron Paul 45:4
I’ve taken this time so I would
have adequate time to explain my position
and why I oppose this bill. Obviously,
this country is facing a serious
problem with drugs. As a physician, I
can attest to it. We have major problems
in this country, something should
be done. But I thought it was necessary
to take some time to point out that
what we have done for 20 to 25 years
hasn’t been all that good. And I see
this resolution as an endorsement of
the status quo, not an introduction of
one single new idea about how to approach
this problem. And it is for this
reason that I have taken this time to
try to get people to think about maybe
an alternative some day that we might
look at, because so far the spending of
the money and the abuse of our civil
liberties that has occurred with the
war on drugs hasn’t accomplished a
whole lot.
1998 Ron Paul 45:5
I object strongly to the Federal approach
to law enforcement. That’s one
of the major issues I have contention
with. When we think about when we
tried to make a better world in 1919,
and we thought we should prohibit certain
substances being used in this
country, in those days we had enough
respect for the Constitution that we
actually believed then that we should
amend the Constitution, and we did
and we had an experiment and after 14
years of a failed program, we repealed
that amendment on alcohol.
1998 Ron Paul 45:6
In 1937, it was decided that possibly
we should restrict marijuana, even for
medical uses, and even then it was not
assumed that this was a Federal prerogative. It was not banned, it was not
outlawed. It was still assumed that it
was the responsibility of the States to
deal with problems of drugs and marijuana
and law enforcement.
1998 Ron Paul 45:7
In 1937, and I am sure some of my
conservative colleagues might be interested
in this because it was the great
FDR who decided to impose a great tax
on marijuana, putting $100 tax on a
pound of marijuana, essentially making
it illegal. And even today those
States who would like to legalize marijuana
even for the sick and dying AIDS
patients and the cancer patients aren’ot even permitted to. It is because we
have carelessly assumed that all regulation
and all controls and all policing
activities should be done here in Washington.
1998 Ron Paul 45:8
I’m here just to suggest quite possibly
our attack on drugs has not been
correct, that we have possibly made
some mistakes. Maybe we spent some
money that we have not gotten our
dollars’ worth. Maybe we’re going in
the wrong direction.
1998 Ron Paul 45:9
It is estimated that we have spent
over $200 billion in the last 25 years
fighting drugs. And yet it’s the same
old thing again. Play on the emotions
of the people, condemn drug usage,
which I do. As I said as a physician, I
know they’re horrible. But as a politician
and somebody in the legislature,
we should think about the efficiency
and the effectiveness of our laws.
1998 Ron Paul 45:10
The evidence quite frankly is not
there to show that we are doing a very
good job. And even though I commend
the individuals who are promoting this
legislation, the motivations are there,
the desires are there, but I think, in
my view, that it’s the same old program
of the Federal war on drugs that
has a lot of shortcomings.
1998 Ron Paul 45:11
The first “whereas” of this resolution,
I strongly agree with. It says,
“Whereas recently revealed statistics
demonstrate America is not winning
the battle to keep young Americans
drug-free.”
This is my point. This is
conceded by everyone. We are not winning
this fight, so why pursue the same
policies over and over again, especially
since there are some shortcomings
with the policy. Not only have
they not been effective, there are some
serious shortcomings, shortcomings on
civil liberty and property rights and
other things.
1998 Ron Paul 45:12
We ought to put the war on drugs in
a proper perspective. Yes, it is easy to
talk about a heroin addict and a crime
committed and people narrowing in on
one instance, but we ought to look at
this in a proper manner.
1998 Ron Paul 45:13
There is talk that there are 20,000
deaths with illegal drugs. But that, in
the best of my estimates, includes all
the violent drugs which, to me, are a
consequence of the war on drugs.
1998 Ron Paul 45:14
I have statistics that say there is
about 6,000 people who die from overdosing
and taking illegal drugs. A horrible
figure. It is horrible. Nobody
should be using these drugs. But let us
put this in a different perspective.
1998 Ron Paul 45:15
We lose 37,000 people on highways
every year, government-managed highways. And 36,000 people die each year
from guns. But we do not take the guns
away from the innocent people because
there are gun accidents and gun
deaths. It is 36,000 in comparison to
6.
1998 Ron Paul 45:16
There is one other figure that is astounding
that was in the media, recorded
in the media here the last couple
of days. And the medical profession has
a responsibility here. It is estimated
that we are losing 106,000 people a year. These are reports from 1994; 106,000 a
year from drug reactions, legal prescription
drugs coming from doctors.
1998 Ron Paul 45:17
Now if you want to go after a problem, let
us go after the highways, let us go
after the guns, let us go after the drug
reaction. What about alcohol? There
are 200,000 deaths, approximately, from
alcohol. But do we come here and propose
that we go back to Prohibition?
1998 Ron Paul 45:18
No. We don’t. It is a serious problem. It is really the big problem.
1998 Ron Paul 45:19
Cigarette killing may be up to 400,000
a year. But if we make the suggestion
that we want to go after them, then we
have a President that says, yes, we’ll
go after the kids that are taking a puff
on the cigarette and apply the same
rules.
1998 Ron Paul 45:20
There are 10 million new cases of sexually
transmitted diseases diagnosed
each year. It’s probably higher because
most of those cases do not get reported. So that is a serious problem. I
mean, look for serious problems.
1998 Ron Paul 45:21
But to dwell on the drug war and casually
and carelessly violate civil liberties,
as we so often do, and have confiscation
and seizure of property that
we just blow it off because we are fighting
the drug war, I think we are going
in the wrong direction. We need some
new ideas and new proposals on this
drug war. I hope today to have time to
make some of these suggestions on
what we might do about the drug war.
1998 Ron Paul 45:22
Former HEW Secretary Joseph
Califano said, not too long ago, he was
comparing the drug war to the problem
of alcohol, he said: The drug war it’s a
grain of sand compared to alcohol.
1998 Ron Paul 45:23
If we look at the college issue, the
overwhelming drug that is a problem
on college campuses is alcohol. And yet, 99
percent of our concerns and our expression
of horror is directed toward a narrower
group of people; that is, on the
illegal drugs.
1998 Ron Paul 45:24
Why might it be that we dwell on the
illegal drugs? Alcohol of course is
legal, but why would it be that maybe
this Congress might not be as aggressive
against the abuses of alcohol and
the deaths? If we have compassion,
should we show less compassion to the
200,000 people dying of alcohol deaths
or the 400,000 dying from cigarette
deaths? But we do.
1998 Ron Paul 45:25
But it just happens that those who
produce alcohol happen to come to
Washington quite frequently. They
make donations to candidates, and they
have a lobby. They do have a presence
here in Washington. Not only those
who make the alcohol, but what about
the hotels or the restaurants?
1998 Ron Paul 45:26
I mean, if we even thought about
doing anything or saying anything
about alcohol, of course we would hear
from the hotels and the restaurants,
and maybe rightfully so, if we argue
that people have a right to have a glass
of wine with their dinner in their hotel
or restaurant. But the point I am trying
to make is that we dwell on certain
things out of proportion to its danger.
1998 Ron Paul 45:27
Also, one reason why we might not
talk about the tremendous abuse with
alcohol is the fact that, quite possibly,
a few Members of Congress actually
participate in using such a thing.
1998 Ron Paul 45:28
There are now probably 13 million people
in this United States suffering from
abuse or alcoholism, a serious, serious
number.
1998 Ron Paul 45:29
Now, there’s a lot more that has to
be said, especially if we can someday
open up the debate and go in a new direction,
have some new ideas dealing
with the drug program. But I want to
pause here for a minute, and I want to
emphasize just one thing; that is, that,
constitutionally, it was never intended
that the Federal Government fight the
war on drug. And they never did until
recent years. And for 25 years now, we have
done it. We have spent $200 billion.
1998 Ron Paul 45:30
It is failing, and we’re not willing to
stand up and say, hey, maybe we are
doing something wrong. Maybe we
ought to have another idea. Maybe we
ought to have a new approach.
1998 Ron Paul 45:31
I think when we talk about not only
looking at this outer perspective of
other problems that we have in the
country, but also the serious consequences
of the drug laws which we all
should be concerned about because it
involves property rights and civil liberty
rights, then maybe we can get around
to the point of saying maybe could
there be a new approach.
1998 Ron Paul 45:1 Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Ron Paul was given control over the opposition debate time in
1998 Ron Paul Chapter 44.
1998 Ron Paul 45:12 all the violent drugs probably should
be all the violent deaths.
1998 Ron Paul 45:26 it was never intended that the Federal Government fight the war on drug.
probably should be plural, it was never intended that the Federal Government fight the war on drugs.
1998 Ron Paul 45:29 Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Ron Paul uses more
time in 1998 Ron Paul Chapter 46.
