Pubdate: Thu, 17 Aug 2006
Source: Nelson Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Nelson Daily News
Contact:  http://www.mapinc.org/media/288
Note: The newspaper does not have an active website.
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n1077/a10.html
Author: Mahara Sinclaire
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

DRUG USE 'HORRORS' SHOULD BE PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE

To the Editor:

Re: Nicole Larusso "Drug crusaders listen up," (NDN letters, August 15, 2006)

I would like to respond to Ms. Lorusso's obvious and laudable concern 
for the children.

As Ms. Lorusso's letter clearly indicated, it is true that our 
children currently have greater access to "illegal" drugs than they 
do to tobacco and alcohol.  And it is also true that neither she, nor 
anyone else, has the right to dictate what an adult may or may not 
decide to put into his or her body.

Alcohol prohibition began as a cry to "save the children" and ended 
the very same way.  This so-called "War On Drugs," has us re-visiting 
this dismal failed social experiment.  Overnight, drug prohibition 
created criminals out of users.  Prisons and jails are overflowing 
with people whose only "crime" was to use a drug while pedophiles, 
rapists and violent criminals walk free.

In a social atmosphere of anti-prohibition, when the drug laws are 
repealed - and when drugs (all drugs) are regulated and taxed (like 
the state sanctioned alcohol and tobacco laws) then and only then 
will our children be safe from the horrors Ms. Lorusso has witnessed.

Mahara Sinclaire

Vancouver, B.C.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman