The reward for Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda terrorists has been increased to 25 million dollars. They are nowhere to be found. The FBI reports that the reward for the anthrax terrorist(s) has been doubled to 2.5 million dollars. No suspects are in sight. Billions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of man-hours of Justice Department time have yet to result in the arrest of more than one potential perpetrator of unprecedented terror against the citizens of the United States.
Yet, in the midst of terror, collapsing airlines, a faltering economy, and the world wide pursuit of security, the United States Government, in the person of Attorney General John Ashcroft, has seen fit to assign hundreds of agents to track down and shut down State approved medical marijuana programs.
Dr. Mollie Fry of El Dorado County California is a kind lady, a competent physician, a loving mother, and a committed Christian. Her home and clinic have been raided at gunpoint with thousands of private patient records seized. While the nation worries about humane conditions for Afghanistan "detainees", Dr. Fry is kindly allowed in the dark of night to diaper her baby granddaughter while handcuffed. Dozens of bewildered DEA agents swarm over her home destroying her small supply of legal cannabis used to treat her terminal breast cancer.
Scott Imler and the Los Angeles Cannabis Patients Resource Center are similarly treated by dozens of Federal agents shutting down the only services for 960 dying Los Angeles AIDs and cancer patients. Stunned local deputies and Congressmen stand by in shock and dismay while the clinic, approved by local ordinance and State law is shuttered.
A nightmare has begun. A national nightmare of lost faith, lost trust, and lost priorities. Besieged by suicidal and murderous thugs, our trusted Federal law enforcement has been diverted to a war on the most innocent and vulnerable of our own citizens. How can this be? A nation still awash in tears over the victims of 9/11 sheds new tears over new innocents hurt by our own homegrown brand of Taliban acting under the authority of Attorney General John Ashcroft. Remember him? He’s the man who so many opposed for confirmation. He’s the man so detested in his own home State that a dead man defeated his run for the Senate. Now he’s in Washington. Now he orders a breast cancer victim to diaper the baby while handcuffed, her teenage son face in the dirt with machine guns pointed at his head.
What good is it to wage a war against terror abroad while losing the war at home? What message do we send when we condemn religious zealotry in others while giving it the force of law in our own local communities? John Ashcroft and his like-minded narrow-minded bigots must go. Congress must act. Hearings must be held. We will all remember this shameful display the next time we vote.
Jay R. Cavanaugh, Ph.D.
West Hills, California
(818) 346-4493
