Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 Source: Alliston Herald (CN ON) Copyright: 2003 Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing Contact: http://www.simcoe.com/sc/alliston/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2224 Author: Alan Randell THE REAL WAY TO REPORT BUSTS Instead of pasting in police department news releases as news, a job that a reasonably intelligent chimpanzee could surely be trained to do, why not inform your readers rather than just making them angry at drug users and their suppliers? If drugs are banned because they're harmful, why do we not ban alcohol or tobacco? That's easy. Despite what the politicians tell us, drug prohibition has nothing to do with helping anyone. Drug prohibition is nothing but a cynical, manipulative campaign to entertain and distract the majority by persecuting an innocent minority. It certainly started out that way almost a century ago when its purpose was to "control" the blacks, Chinese and Mexicans by banning the drugs used by those minorities. You may find it helpful to think about how you feel the media of Nazi Germany should have reported the incarceration and slaughter of Jews, assuming, of course, they had the freedom to do so -- and then consider changing the way you report drug busts which likewise involve the incarceration of innocent people. Here are my suggestions: include the comments of those, like me, who oppose these laws; include the comments of the victims, i.e. those arrested and their families and friends as well as (with their permission of course) information on where they went to school, who their parents are, who their partners are, etc. include a summary of your editorial position, if any, on these laws. If you and your media colleagues continue to suppress the voices of the victims of these ridiculous laws, I fear drug prohibition will be with us for a thousand years. Alan Randell, Victoria, B.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart