Pubdate: Sun, 03 Jan 2016
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2016 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: John Levchuk
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n729/a05.html

STOPPING ILLEGAL DRUG USE ISN'T SO EASY

Danielle Allen equated education to reduce tobacco use with education 
plus decriminalization to reduce illicit drug use. DoesMs. Allen know 
of any instances in which innocent bystanders were killed by someone 
high on tobacco? People get killed all too often by someone high on 
an illicit drug. Just before reading Ms. Allen's column, I learned 
that my two darling nieces, one in preschool and the other in second 
grade, were killed in a high-speed, rear-end crash by a driver who 
seemed to be high on drugs.

Retaining criminalization might prevent some of these tragedies. To 
me, that's reason enough to keep the pressure of criminalization on 
illicit drug users.

Effective education and prevention strategies take time to develop 
and are validated by the test of time. I worked for about eight years 
during the 1970s as a part of New Mexico's statewide drug abuse 
education initiative. It was very slow progress and by no means a 
substitute for the criminal justice system as a deterrent. A 
complement to, yes, but not a substitute for.

John Levchuk, Columbia
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom