The Tribune reported Jan.15 on "meth moms" in drug rehabilitation who have their children with them as they free themselves from their drug habit. You can be certain these mothers choose rehab over imprisonment primarily to be with their children. In the same paper, you report on two U.S. Air Force pilots charged with involuntary manslaughter for bombing four Canadian soldiers during war maneuvers. Their defense lawyer claims the U.S. government encouraged the use of so-called "go-pills" which may have distorted their judgment in causing this incident. In fact, the U.S. military calls these pills a "fatigue management tool" allowing soldiers working under tiring conditions to maintain alertness. [continues 124 words]
I have read with interest the letters concerning Columbia Academy's current policy of random drug testing of all students. The last letter from Mr. Stephen Heath of Clearwater, Fla., gave me pause. At first I wondered why Mr. Heath would be interested in the policies of a small Middle Tennessee school hundreds of miles away. A visit to the web site of Drug Policy Forum of Florida of which Mr. Heath is a member, informed me that the note attached to his letter by the editor of the Herald did not tell all the story. [continues 469 words]
The view that drug testing our children is counterproductive and a governmental interference of individual rights (as expressed in The Tribune's Our View -- "Failed Drug Test" July 6) is clearly a fringe view. Most Americans are unconcerned with the government's infringements on their rights as defined in the U.S. Constitution, since they reason that they don't use illegal drugs. Yet the arbitrary testing of our children for possible use of illegal drugs reveals that we are being subjected to governmental abuses. [continues 159 words]
I applaud the Deseret News' excellent series on drug addiction and its treatment in portraying society's most stigmatized element as real people with treatable problem behaviors. The Deseret News/KSL TV poll revealed a contradictory attitude among Utahns. Those individuals who agree that "addiction is a chronic brain disease that must be medically treated" number 58 percent, and those who agree that "addiction is a moral failing" total 56 percent. The director of the State Division of Substance Abuse explained that people see "the choice to first use [drugs] is a behavioral choice, and that once certain people start . . . they lose their ability to control their use and they abuse." [continues 645 words]
In response to James V. Roach's comments ("Fruitless Drug War" Forum, July 24), I completely agree that the tragic and pointless death of Roosevelt Police Chief Cecil Gurr is another sad part of prohibitionist drug policies. Current drug policies do not adequately address the violence and addiction problems associated with the illegal drug market. And they never will. As long as the solution criminalizes users, crime will be a fundamental element of the use of an illegal drug. Even an otherwise law-abiding citizen becomes a criminal merely by using marijuana, a drug many health experts and government studies have determined to be far less dangerous than the penalties for its used demand. [continues 176 words]
