Pubdate: [Thu, 26 Dec 1996]
Source: Tacoma, Wa News Tribune
Author: Ralph Seeley

It seems to me that the very definition of insanity is doing the same thing
over and over, expecting a different result. That is what the "drug war"
has wrought on our student population: again and again our government lies
to our students, the students continue to disbelieve us (since "us" and
"government" are supposedly the same), and we then stand around scratching
our heads before spending more money promulgating the same lies.

I cringe when I read about programs like drug tests for extracurricular
activities -- those are just going to get the kids off the drugs tested for
(marijuana being the easiest) and onto something worse.

The answers do not lie in more propaganda and more programs based on
drug-war hysteria. The answers lie in truth, in science, and in
understanding that humans have always been a drug-using species. The
solution is not abolition or prohibition, but research and regulation to
reduce society's harm to a minimum. Neither the bogus education programs
nor building more jails and filling them up is working, and they won't
start working any time soon.

The first and most obvious step is to lower the hysteria level about
marijuana and treat it as it should be treated -- as a regulated drug like
alcohol.  In the Netherlands, the hard-drug use has gone to near zero
following such steps. It would work equally as well here.

Ralph Seeley
Tacoma