Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 23:43:36 -0400
From: Matthew Belmonte <mbelmont@mail.slc.edu>
To: nitamail@hr.house.gov
Subject: crime bills

    I am writing to ask you to oppose any legislation that 
would increase penalties for drug offenses.  I oppose the 
War on Drugs because it is ineffective, generates violence, 
makes drugs more harmful, and ruins lives.  We have the 
highest incarceration rate in the entire world, and it has 
to stop.

    Specifically, I ask you to oppose H.R. 810 and specifically
the following provisions:

 * raising penalties for powder cocaine or other drugs;

 * eliminating the drug treatment incentive;

 * mandatory life sentences or the death penalty for
   importation of drugs;

 * the new firearms mandatory minimums, which would catch
   even nonviolent drug offenders whose firearms were
   unused and legally possessed; and

 * punishing physicians who recommend the medical use of
   marijuana.

I also ask that you oppose the following smaller bills that 
would enact some of the same provisions: H.R. 332, H.R. 41,
and H.R. 424.

    I urge you to remember that crime control is a complex 
issue that defies simplistic solutions like simply raising 
penalties.  People's lives are at stake, and the War on 
Drugs is no answer.

    Sincerely,
    Matthew Belmonte