Pubdate: Fri, 20 Mar 2009
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: John Cooper
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n315/a05.html

SIMPLISTIC SOLUTION

Jon Ferry's simplistic solution of abstinence as a way to address the
drug problem in our streets made me gag.

My 14-year-old daughter tells me it is easier for a teen to buy
ecstasy or cocaine than to buy a cigarette or a bottle of beer. This
fact alone makes me realize that prohibition has been a colossal failure.

An end to prohibition will save lives, bankrupt the gangsters, take
drug abuse off the streets and be a financial boon to government.

Prohibition will, one day, be looked back on with the same bemused
horror that we view the Spanish Inquisition or the Salem Witch Trials.

That day will come sooner if we can stop this drug-war insanity and
focus on the reality of addiction as a health problem and the
solutions that are available.

John Cooper

Chilliwack
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