Pubdate: Mon, 05 Feb 2007
Source: Neepawa Banner, The (CN MB)
Copyright: 2007 The Neepawa Banner
Contact:  http://www.neepawabanner.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3951
Author: Stanley Reitsma
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

CONTINUE THE WAR ON DRUGS

I could not believe the nonsense of Gwynne Dyer's column "The 
struggle against the "War on Drugs".

Pot should never be legalized. Drugs fry people's brains and drugs 
kill, period. Do drugs and people high on drugs make them better 
parents, spouses and employees?

We should continue the war on drugs. I will admit the drug war is not 
very successful, but just because we cannot eradicate an evil, does 
that mean we give in? We have not stopped rape or homosexual priests 
who sexually molest boys or drinking and driving, but do we then 
legalize all that, because we fail to eliminate that? Of course not! 
Why should drugs be different? Some people act like idiots, and do 
bizarre things, but does that mean help them carry on that way?

Advocates for legalization will cite that Prohibition never worked in 
the 1920s to ban alcohol. So when it was repealed did that end all 
alcohol problems? When it was lifted the number of alcoholics 
skyrocketed and that is due to the fact that all of a sudden there 
was no legal penalty against drinking. Many started drinking who 
never did during Prohibition because of the penalties and got hooked. 
We haven't stressed the desire to not to drink. Ending Prohibition 
did not end the massive size of organized crime.

Every law has a moral component to it. It expresses a morality, but 
it can also change people's moral views when something is legalized. 
Something that was considered evil by most can have the ability to 
make people doubt the evilness of that same something if it is 
legalized. Just look at attitudes about homosexuality and abortion. 
Making homosexual marriage and abortion legal doesn't change the fact 
the it perverts marriage and that abortion is the killing of innocent 
children, yet legalization changed societal attitudes into accepting 
it. Do we want this for illegal drugs?

The intent of criminal law is to show the boundaries by which society 
functions within. Evil acts and behaviour that is harmful to society 
is thereby criminalized. Most people think anything that is not 
criminalized is not harmful. If we legalize pot people would get that 
impression.

Making something legal does not make it good for the well being of 
society, the legalization of gambling brought a massive group of 
people to destruction and ruin. Law can shape and intervene to 
prevent the action of people who don't give a hoot about the harm 
they can do to others and themselves.

Legalization of drugs will cause untold misery to those who get 
hooked and I call that exploitation. Do we want more people needing 
addiction programs? Any one successfully treated by an addiction 
program will fi rst say they dearly wish they never had the easy 
access to the vice that got them addicted in the fi rst place. Often 
they would say if that vice were illegal they would not have 
experimented with it, which got them hooked.

The Law can prevent exploitation of the helpless in society.Fear of 
criminal record does prevent many from doing something illegal. Many 
would never experiment with pot if it could get them a criminal 
record but would if the criminal record threat is lifted. That is 
what criminal law is designed to do, to provide deterrence.

It is amazing that the previous Liberal government clamped down hard 
on tobacco, but was talking about decriminalization of pot. If 
tobacco causes a wealth of health problems, why won't pot?

It is insane for the government to provide people who land in jail on 
drug offenses a needle exchange program for them if they do drugs in 
jail. Jail is supposed to punish behaviour. How can someone be 
allowed to partake an activity in jail, which was the same activity 
that got him there in the fi rst place? No wonder people get confused 
about whether they have permission to smoke pot.

I have helped in a soup kitchen and will continue to do so and I have 
seen the thorough ruin that drugs have done to people. To see how 
hooked they are because of drugs is heart breaking. People who pedal 
drugs have callous disregard for the damage they do to others. They 
should be behind bars.

Stanley Reitsma

Carman Man.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman