Pubdate: Thu, 17 May 2001
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Section: Letters
Copyright: 2001 World Publishing Co
Contact:  http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/463
Author: Brian Johnson

DRUG ABUSES VICTIMIZE US ALL

In Sheryl McCarthy's May 6 column, "Hooked," concerning our nation's 
misguided drug policy, she correctly notes the painfully obvious truth that 
we focus too much on punishment and too little on prevention and cure. 
However, McCarthy's pronouncement that drug abusers (such as Darryl 
Strawberry and Robert Downey Jr.) "are hurting nobody but themselves and 
their loved ones" is egregiously false.

Abusers support an industry that breeds violence and treats its workers and 
outsiders as a disposable commodity instead of people. From Colombia where 
opponents of the drug trade are murdered daily, to the streets of Mexico 
and Los Angeles where the poverty-plagued foot soldiers who smuggle the 
contraband are frequently shot or incarcerated, to Oklahoma where innocent 
victims include automobile fatalities caused by meth-enhanced drivers and 
individuals robbed by drug abusers to finance their illness, to society as 
a whole which is deprived of the full potential of its citizenry when a 
portion of it is incapacitated by drug addiction, drug abuse victims 
include a universe far beyond those who merely snort, smoke or inject.

While the solution to the drug problem may not lie in indiscriminate 
punishment, it doesn't lie in acceptance either. We are all victimized when 
one of us falls prey to substance abuse.

Brian Johnson
Adjunct Law Professor, University of Tulsa
Tulsa
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