Pubdate: Tue, 12 Feb 2002
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Shannon Meek

THE DEGRADATION OF HUMAN LIFE

In the grim speculation about the fates of Vancouver's missing daughters, 
sisters and mothers, let us reconsider the benefits of current drug 
legislation. The inflated prices of the illegal drug trade finance war and 
oppression abroad, drive an untaxed, unregulated economy at home and force 
sick and desperate sex workers into business with even sicker sex consumers.

We should arm ourselves with preventive resources, treat addiction as a 
medical issue and then drop the bottom out of the black market.

Legalizing drugs will not eliminate the world's evils, and as long as there 
is prostitution, there will also be bad dates. However, whether in 
Colombia, Afghanistan or the Downtown Eastside, our drug policies 
contribute criminally to the degradation of human life -- and to the 
potential for horror imagined at the gates of one decrepit pig farm.

Shannon Meek

Victoria
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom