Pubdate: Tue, 19 Nov 2002
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2098/a03.html

WE NEED COMMON-SENSE PLAN

If politicians are serious about keeping dangerous drugs out of the hands 
of children, they're going to have to come up with a common-sense plan that 
does not involve abdicating the responsibility to organized crime. While 
European nations have largely abandoned the drug war in favor of 
public-health alternatives, our so-called leaders are seemingly intent on 
maximizing the harm associated with illicit drug use. The RAVE Act 
currently making its way through Congress targets dance clubs that provide 
lifesaving harm-reduction education, pill testing and water designed to 
prevent ecstasy-related heatstroke, which is potentially life-threatening. 
Sacrificing more children at the altar of the failed drug war is not in 
America's best interest. In addition to pushing legislation that will lead 
to easily preventable deaths, our government is spending millions on a 
misleading anti-ecstasy campaign. Apparently, keeping the 
multibillion-dollar-drug-war gravy train chugging along is more important 
than protecting children from drugs.

Robert Sharpe

Arlington, Va.
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