Pubdate: Fri, 08 Jan 1999
Date: 01/08/1999
Source: Harper's Magazine (US)
Author: Thomas B. Roberts

A colleague and I submitted a funding proposal to a foundation in
order to study the causes of illgal drug use. We maintained that
realistic drug policy cannot be written until the makers of that
policy know why people use drugs. The proposal was rejected,
confirming our suspicion that no one in the antidrug complex wants to
learn that the choice to do drugs is for most people a rational one,
that users see themselves, rightly or wrongly, as benefiting from doing so.

Thomas B. Roberts
Northern Illinois University
Dc KaIb, IL.