Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 10:25:57 -0500 To: Matthew Gaylor From: Matthew Gaylor Subject: Libertarian Alliance News Release - Prince Harry and Drugs Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 22:23:42 +0000 To: Free Life Commentary From: Sean Gabb Subject: Libertarian Alliance News Release - Prince Harry and Drugs News Release from the Libertarian Alliance London, Monday the 14th January 2002 For Immediate Use Contact Details: Dr Sean Gabb, 07956 472 199, sean@libertarian.co.uk Royal Scandal Shows Need to Legalise All Drugs, Says Free Market and Civil Liberties Think Tank The scandal surrounding Prince Harry, who is alleged to have used cannabis, illustrates the climate of hysteria in which most debate on drugs policy takes place in Britain. So claims the Libertarian Alliance, Britain's most radical free market and civil liberties think tank. Libertarian Alliance spokesman, Dr Sean Gabb, said: "It is astonishing that a young man who has occasionally drunk too much and smoked cannabis should be treated as some kind of moral degenerate. Prince Harry has been forced to attend a drug rehabilitation clinic, and will now be subject to random drug testing at his school. These are humiliations and violations of privacy that must have far more serious effects on the development of his character than almost any amount of experiment with mood-altering substances. "Moreover, the way in which Prince Harry has been treated encourages the similar treatment of other young men in his situation. Already, the statements from St James's Palace have been taken up by the usual crowd of health fascists, and used to justify their demands for still more of our tax money to waste and still more of our lives to control. "Prince Harry is now 17, and was no younger than 16 when he allegedly first experimented with cannabis. We believe that, at these ages, individuals are old enough to make their own choices regarding lifestyle, and strongly condemn the use of any coercive attempt to regulate lifestyle at these ages. "Needless to say, the Libertarian Alliance believes that all drugs should be relegalised - taking us back to the freedom of choice that individuals enjoyed before 1920. Prince Harry is simply the latest and the highest profile victim of a war on drugs that cannot be won, but that allows a war on freedom and dignity that has destroyed millions of lives in the past 80 years, created super profits for criminal enterprise, and corrupted the police forces and intelligence agencies of every nation. "Returning to the case of Prince Harry, we do hope that if the Crown Prosecution Service is to be involved, it will treat him as leniently as it did the son of the Home Secretary in 1998 when he was caught not only consuming but also dealing drugs." Ends Note to Editors 1) Dr Sean Gabb sits on the Executive Committee of the Libertarian Alliance and edits its journal "Free Life". His latest book, "Dispatches from a Dying Country: Reflections on Modern England", is available from Politico's. Dr Gabb can be contacted by mobile on 07956 472 199, or at sean@libertarian.co.uk 2) The Libertarian Alliance has previously published four reports on relegalising drugs. These are available on our website (www.libertarina.co.uk) or in hard copy on request. Sean Gabb, "1400 Words against Drug Prohibition", Free Life Commentary 17 URL: http://www.btinternet.com/~old.whig/flcomm/flc017.htm Christian Michel, Drugs Should Not be Prohibited, 2000, 6pp, Political Notes 166 URL: http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/polin/polin166.pdf Paul Anderton, Why Complete Legalisation Is the Real Answer to the 'Drugs' Problem, 1998, 7pp, Political Notes 151 URL: http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/polin/polin151.pdf Brian Micklethwait, Why 'Drugs' Should Be Legalised, 1994, 2pp, Political Notes 97 URL: http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/polin/polin097.pdf -- This news release comes from The Libertarian Alliance 25 Chapter Chambers, Esterbrooke Street, London SW1P 4NN Director: Dr Chris R. Tame 020 7 821 5502, http://www.libertarian.co.uk Released by Sean Gabb ************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt@coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor, (614) 313-5722 ICQ: 106212065 Archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/ **************************************************************************