Pubdate: Thu, 16 Oct 2003
Source: Maui News, The (HI)
Contact:  2003 The Maui News
Website: http://www.mauinews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2259
Author: Jerome Kellner
Note: To read about the "ice epidemic" in Hawaii, go to
http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Hawaii .

LEGALIZING DRUGS AS ABSURD AS LEGALIZING SPEEDING 

The Maui News reported Oct. 14 that despite crackdowns on speeding, younger
drivers on Oahu continue to disobey traffic laws, and three were killed in
accidents recently. We're seeing more and more of the same behavior on Maui
roadways. Obviously, because some drivers are undeterred by traffic laws and
choose to break them, we should make speeding, racing and other serious
traffic violations legal. 

Absurd? Yes, but not a week goes by that The Maui News does not publish
similar idiocy from drug legalization or drug decriminalization lunatics who
use precisely the same logic in calling for drug legalization. The Maui News
is just as bad with its ridiculous editorial position of "punish the
dealers, not the users." Would you please get real?

The entire drug culture of manufacturers, dealers and users would not exist
without people who choose to break the law by using illegal drugs. Then they
get hooked and inevitably cry that they're not responsible for anything
whatsoever, that they're addicts and "the drugs made them do it."

Hello? That's why drugs like crystal methamphetamine were made illegal in
the first place: they're addictive and dangerous. And before the potheads
slither out from beneath their rocks to write about legalizing their
favorite "herb," the same goes for smoking marijuana. Pot is psychologically
addictive, destroys brain cells, harms the respiratory system, and, along
with tobacco, is a definite gateway to smoking ice, crack cocaine and other
smokeable forms of drugs.

Jerome Kellner

Wailuku
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