MADD
Continues Shift Toward Prohibition
Information
courtesy of Lawrence Taylor - DUIblog
Over
the years, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has pushed for ever-lower
blood-alcohol limits, harsher punishments, .08% "per se"
laws, sobriety checkpoints, "zero tolerance" (.01%) for
drivers under 21, immediate license confiscation -- and destroying
many constitutional rights in the process. They have recently advocated
the reduction of blood-alcohol levels from .08% to .05%; "zero
tolerance" for adults is on the the horizon. And as I pointed
out in "A Closer Look at DUI Fatality Statistics", none
of this has had anywhere near the reduction in accidents claimed
by MADD.
Bear
in mind that these are the same sort of folks who many years ago
brought us the failed experiment of prohibition.
Some
time ago I commented in another post that this well-organized (over
600 chapters) and well-funded ($48,051,441 in revenues for 2002)
organization's eventual goal is a return to prohibition. I also
noted that in 1999, MADD’s National Board of Directors unanimously
voted to change the organization’s mission statement to include
the prevention of underage drinking. Not underage drinking and driving
-- just drinking. Let me say that again: MADD has begun to shift
its focus away from "drunk driving" and towards the broader
"problem" of drinking.
An
important step in achieving prohibition would be to shift the "problem"
from the states to the federal government. On January 20, 2005,
MADD issued the following announcement and press release:
CALL
TO ACTION!
Law
enforcement is not only the best way of deterring drunk driving,
but also the best way to deter underage drinking. A new session
of Congress brings an opportunity to push for the STOP Underage
Drinking
Act, which would help support law enforcement in combating the
No. 1 youth drug problem in the United States. This bill would
create needed federal government leadership on underage drinking
issues. Please ask your federal legislators to co-sponsor this
bill when it is introduced.
MADD
is well along the path toward its eventual goal.
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