The Canton Rotary Club heard Friday from a speaker who wants to scrap the nation's drug laws. He wants to end the illegal drug trade by putting the government in charge of regulating the sale of drugs just as it does alcohol and tobacco products. The Rotarians were polite, as one would expect them to be. Some were in agreement with speaker Howard Wooldridge's message because I heard them say so in small conversations around the room. Most were noncommittal. There was no vote taken on the members' sentiments after Wooldridge finished his speech. [continues 442 words]
Editor's Note In the closing days of December, we published an essay by Harry Klide, the retired Stark County Common Pleas Court trial judge. In it, he questioned the U.S. practice of locking up drug users and sellers. He cited the high rate of imprisonment in the United States and the failure to curtail the drug trade. He invited citizens to become interested in this problem. A representative from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, headquartered in Medford, Mass., subsequently contacted Klide. If you are interested in learning more, LEAP's Web page is: [continues 81 words]
