Pubdate: Sun, 7 Feb 1999
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 1999 San Francisco Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/
Author: GERALD M. SUTLIFF

USERS AND ABUSERS

Editor -- No doubt J. Davidson's heart is in the right place (Letters,
January 31) as he deplores the human tragedy and social waste of what
he calls ``drug abuse.'' However, he fails to differentiate between
drug use and drug abuse. Who is inside and who is outside his circle?
Americans spend over $3 billion annually on Prozac, are they abusers?
Or tobacco smokers? Coffee drinkers; how often must one drink a cup of
coffee to become an abuser. There are 40 million or more occasional
users of marijuana. Which are abusers and which are not?

On the drug issue debate we haven't yet defined the issue. Is it any
wonder we have made so little progress in setting effective policy?
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