Pubdate: Sun, 09 Apr 2006
Source: Quesnel Cariboo Observer (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Quesnel Cariboo Observer
Contact:  http://www.quesnelobserver.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1260
Author: Arthur Topham

DISMAYED BY EDITORIAL

Dismay might best describe the effect your March 29 editorial on 
crystal meth left me feeling.

Not dismay over the futility of trying to stop a miniscule number of 
human beings from damaging themselves with cheap, synthetic drugs, 
but dismay brought on by the realization that we, as a society, have 
progressed so little since the 1960s and '70s in coming to terms with 
the issue of drug use and misuse.

Your latest shot, in a drug war, which began with the strategic 
stupidity of the Reagan era, is a poignant example of how the 
mainstream press continually maintains a complicit relationship with 
the government, the corporations and any and all related agencies 
when it comes to the "war on drugs," and never comes to terms with 
the real, fundamental issue of why this phenomenon is occurring.

Your editorial leads the reader to surmise it was the slack-assed 
attitude of the hippies that is at the root of all the problems we're 
facing today.

As such, it differs in no way, shape or form from any of the 
countless generic editorials of its kind I've been reading since the 1960s.

Let's get it straight (again).

Marijuana, LSD and the rest of the array of psychedelic 
(mind-expanding) substances were precursors of a new age and the 
birth of a new consciousness - one which still exists and still holds 
the greatest promise of being able to save this beleaguered planet 
from the violence and insanity the forces of greed and war have 
created everywhere.

In other words, it was an experiment that is still ongoing for those 
who are participants.

Readers need to be reminded it was the hippies who first experimented 
with speed (meth) and it was they/we who realized only too quickly 
the deleterious effects of long-term use of this drug and quickly 
spoke out against it in an effort to educate not only the freak crowd 
but the population at large.

There will always be a tiny minority of people who will end up doing 
this drug just as there is a tiny minority of people who do many 
other weird drugs, but trying to wage war upon these troubled souls 
is not the way to deal with the problem.

It never was and never will be. Only knowledge and truth given in a 
non-judgmental manner will help this situation to improve.

If pot and all the other psychedelics had not been turned into 
criminal substances by the very forces which own and benefit from the 
control of government - i.e. the banks and corporations (like the 
pharmaceutical drug ones), this world would be in a much better place 
today than the hell hole it's now becoming.

Arthur Topham

Cottonwood
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman