In the Feb. 16 column, Boot camps are worthless, should get boot, Fred Grimm attempted to link boot camps with the D.A.R.E. program. In the March 26 Five Questions interview, Turning kids from crime, Carlos Martinez, Miami-Dade County's chief assistant public defender, also sought to link the scared-straight approach to D.A.R.E. Neither of them referred to any studies, recent or ancient. D.A.R.E. is currently in 75 percent of school districts nationwide. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Monitoring the Future Study, teenage drug use continues to fall, decreasing 19 percent during the past four years. Can D.A.R.E. take all of the credit? Of course not, but D.A.R.E. is not Scared Straight. [continues 298 words]
One cannot help but be suspect with respect to police opposition to the legalization of marijuana. It is obvious that the ever-increasing amounts of money and time spent on the drug "wars" only benefits organized crime while otherwise innocent citizens are harassed and prosecuted. As a former chair of the Sudbury Addiction Workers' Council, I would urge all those interested, included the police, to carefully read the very well prepared and objective report by the Senate committee who have no vested interest in the issue. It is time we put an end to the nonsense surrounding this subject and get on with more important business like making our highways safer with the help of our police services. John Lindsay Sudbury [end]
