Pubdate: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 Source: Crowsnest Pass Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2007 Crowsnest Pass Herald Contact: http://www.passherald.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4531 Author: Chris Buors WHAT THE BLOCK PARENTS ASSOCIATION DID NOT LEARN Dear Editor: Presenting one side of the argument such as the dangers of crystal meth without balance or perspective is nothing but a good old fashioned witch hunt. Guest speakers Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger would have been invited to present the Hammer of Witches as the last word with every authority at the ready to concur just to give the appearance of official sanction. What the Crowsnest Pass Block Parents Association did not learn was that "crystal meth" has the brand name of Desoyxn. Desoyxn is prescribed to unruly school children and the obese who do not have to suffer from impurities from paint thinner and brake fluid. Adulterated drugs are a consequence of the political policy of prohibition. Adulterated alcohol was responsible for scores of blinding and deaths when prohibition was the political policy of the day too. Running to the Center for Addiction and Mental Health for statements on addiction would have been no different than running down to the church for an opinion on witches. Addiction is a culturally conditioned stigmatizing term that reflect more about what the people believe than any true property of periodic table elements. Addiction falls on receptive ears in theologic based society conditioned to believe in demonic possession. Spiritual Death is what addiction was called when the church ruled. Lust for pleasure vices and being a glutton about it is what got you there. Today we live in a therapeutic state which evolved from the theologic state so we have learned how to do all our moralizing in medical sounding terms. All that may be in line with the intellectual expectations of our age, but periodic table elements still do not have supernatural powers of allurement. It is in the forbidding of fruit where in all the powers of allurement are unleashed according to the parable of The Fall. Drug taking is a moral issue just as assuredly as is alcohol drinking. Yielding to temptation is not a disease. Having a moralist give you an earful to mend your ways to be more in line with the Christian culture is not medical treatment no matter what the experts tell you. The question begs of why in a free and open society like Canada no one would think to invite a pharmacologist along to explain what the properties of crystal meth are. And no one ever invites an anthropologist to these affairs least the ceremonial and ritual aspect of a drug taking human civilization be brought up. Those two groups of professionals have a very different view on drugs and their uses than the demonizers who presented their personal stories to the CPBPA. that's why none were invited. A revival of Biblical proportions is what really went on at the CPBPA event. Chris Buors, Winnipeg, Manitoba - --- MAP posted-by: Derek