Pubdate: Mon, 05 Jun 2006
Source: Daily Record, The (Parsippany, NJ)
Copyright: 2006 The Daily Record
Contact: http://www.dailyrecord.com/customerservice/forms/letters.htm#form
Website: http://www.dailyrecord.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/112
Author: William Nickoley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

GET REAL: USERS ARE NOT 'VICTIMS'

To the Editor:

According to letter writer Larry Seguin, of Lisbon, N.Y., our hearts 
should bleed for the "victims of the war on drugs (aka drug 
users)."Seguin then expresses agreement with letter writer Kirk Muse 
of Mesa, Ariz., (to whom I responded previously) that the current 
"medical marijuana" debate is too limited, that marijuana should be 
legalized for recreational use as well.

The agenda of a self-indulgent and muddle-headed minority is exposed 
for what it is in these letters. That both these writers believe drug 
users are a "victims group" comparable to the true victims of the 
Holocaust (as Muse has flatly stated, and for which Seguin has 
expressed support) displays a complete detachment from reality.

But, as a further observation, the fact that the Daily Record 
stimulates audiences in such far away places as the Adirondacks and 
Arizona indicates the surprisingly widespread influence of local 
newspapers in this electronic age. Our small voices do not simply 
"curse the darkness," they apparently still make it sit up and take 
notice nationally when truth is spoken. This is good news for democracy.

Edmund Burke once stated that evil only triumphs when good people do 
nothing. I suggest that there ought to be a few more people today 
weighing in when completely stupid and self-serving proposals are 
made to undermine our society, rather than accepting such things passively.

WILLIAM NICKOLEY

Rockaway
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman