Trying to quantify the costs to Australian society, both fiscally and socially, is little more than guesswork. If the National Crime Authority chairman admits the war is perhaps unwinnable, why don't we withdraw the troops? What is so wrong with trying a controlled experiment where addicts are provided with heroin? It seems that the sensible solution to an unwinnable war is not to keep sacrificing bodies at the frontline using the same old tactics, but to try a different tactic. And even if it isn't done for reasons of genuine compassion for the suffering of our fellow citizens, it can be done for sound financial reasons - less crime, less police and less prisons. PAUL SCOTT NEWCASTLE, NSW [end]
Tragically, because they illustrate the confusion and misunderstanding that are the hallmarks of the official and socially accepted attitude towards the devastating social problem of drugs. The harmful effects of drugs, illicit or legal are beyond dispute. The crime problem associated with illicit drugs is not caused by their popularity but by the prohibition society insists on maintaining on them. Those who profit from the drug trade are delighted with that attitude, for it keeps them in business. In the meantime, even the most successful drug busts fail to have a meaningful impact on the overall situation. Once common-sense prevails over bunkered ideology and prohibition is discarded as a counterproductive weapon in the war against drugs, society might begin to work out an effective strategy to achieve victory. Bill Martin VALENTINE, NSW [end]
