Pubdate: Tue, 28 Jul 2015 Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) Copyright: 2015 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Contact: http://www.stltoday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418 Author: Fred Kohorst AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE CREATED THE DEMAND FOR DRUGS The Sunday editorial "Descriminalizacao" on the war against drugs seems to confirm what I've been carrying on about for some time now. The war on drugs is an entirely misguided effort. We keep blaming the Mexican and Colombian cartels for the sale and use of drugs in this country. The fact of the matter is that the American people must take most of the blame for what is happening. Readers of my letter who don't want to deal with this reality will write me off as being unpatriotic, but the real truth is that the American people have created the demand for drugs. Americans want drugs. We want cocaine, marijuana, meth and anything we can get our hands on. Drug cartels are simply supplying a product to a marketplace we have created. It's another example of this more and more pervasive mentality of making other people responsible for our decisions. Every time someone uses an illegal substance, they make a conscious decision to do so. It's just easier to blame the bad Mexicans who are making our little boys and girls put that white powder up their noses. If someone is addicted, they put themselves in that situation. Help is available to anyone who genuinely wants it, but that of course means you couldn't get stoned anymore. We may be our own worst enemy in this war on drugs. Maybe we need to rethink our war strategy and redefine who the real enemy might be. Fred Kohorst St. Charles - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom