Pubdate: Tue, 17 Mar 2009
Source: Peace Arch News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Peace Arch News
Contact:  http://www.peacearchnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1333
Author: Colin Fletcher
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n271.a11.html

DON'T SURRENDER TO SOCIETAL EVIL

Editor:

I believe legalization of street drugs - such as cocaine, crack,
marijuana, heroin, etc. - is not the solution to stopping current gang
violence in our community.

At some point, the community has to stand together against evil, not
surrender to it.

How can we protect and teach our children about the wrongness of
street drugs, and at the same time sell them at the corner store? This
would be hypocrisy.

People who lobby for the legalization of street drugs must realize
with this type of legislation you are not just legalizing the drugs,
you are also legalizing drug dealers.

And yes, sigh, the drug dealers will still be very much rampant. They
will just undercut the government's taxed prices.

Once the government starts selling drugs, in my mind, they are no
different than the street dealers who sell drugs to kids anyways.

Isn't it bad enough the government already profits from the sale of
tobacco, one of the leading causes of death in our nation? Do
legalization lobbyists think the horrifying consequences of drug use
will disappear because they are legalized?

I just don't understand the logic. Do lobbyists know what it's like to
have a loved one suffer from the enslavement of addictions? Anyone who
knows anything about drugs knows when they become more accessible,
they become more obtainable.

The law has to represent the difference between right and wrong. If
these types of narcotics were legalized, what type of moral issue
would be sacrificed next?

Would these same lobbyists then make demands for the sale of child
pornography to be legalized for tax money? Will there be an outcry to
legalize other criminal activities, such as car theft - a huge
money-making industry that also has potential for violence?

I've had enough of being bullied by the demands of thugs. No thug is
going to change the laws of this great country just because they want
to sell drugs to children.

Are we so willing to just give over this great nation of Canada to
evil without a fight?

The true root issue of this violence is that government funding that
should be going to urgently needed drug rehabilitation programs is
being diverted to unnecessary non-social programs.

This leaves the impoverished and addicts, the true victims, with no
options other than to be continually abused by their dealers.

This, in turn, empowers dealers and increases the profits of
gangs.

With addicts not getting treatment, there is an increase in demand.
Despair amongst the impoverished is rampant. And as long as there is
despair, there will be dealers that use this despair to increase their
client base.

Help the victims and take away the dealers' and abusers' true power.
Stop cutting social funding, and give victims the coping skills they
need to get clean, not contempt.

With the loss of the customers, the gangs will have no choice but to
die out.

Colin Fletcher

White Rock
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