Editor, The News: I have been following the work of the brave and principled law-enforcement officers at Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Howard Woolbridge is trying to save the next generation from prison, disease and death. ("Theory: Safer to legalize drugs," The Saginaw News, April 14) Whenever LEAP comes to a town to discuss drugs on an adult and responsible level, however, it seems as though Chief Chicken Little is right behind him, yelling, "The sky will fall if we try anything else!" That they have fat drug budgets and more from the bottomless, trillion dollar tax pit of prohibition isn't the point. [continues 110 words]
The tragic deaths of Sarah Stellner and Michael Ace from drug overdoses, and the charges against the woman alleged to have sold them heroin, should cause us all to reconsider drug policies which have been burying our family members for decades. Is prohibition the best way of addressing addiction? At first thought, it would seem so. But prohibition does more harm than good. In almost all these cases, the victims were misinformed about the strength of the drug -- a tragic, needless mistake. [continues 155 words]
Sanity has crept into the prisons and drug rhetoric in Wisconsin ("Study outlines alternatives to jail," Jan. 30). A study commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance confirms we have been on an incarceration binge and now we suffer the fiscal "morning after." The report rightly recommends the treatment alternative, but the treatments themselves must not become politicized. So-called abstinence-based treatment - the 12-step model - does not work equally well for all users or the abuse of every drug. Many politicians, however, demand it as a hard-line, punitive approach. [continues 128 words]
Sunday's State Journal editorial on the costs of addiction in Wisconsin was a welcome departure from drug war rhetoric. Addicts comprise over 70 percent of our prison population, with more coming. Clearly, this is a failed policy. The ratio of black to white prisoners underscores the unfair nature of these laws. Time to try something different. But "drug courts" and referral programs are not different; they are merely new ways to incarcerate and attempt to coerce abstinent behavior that is just not possible for the sickest addicts. Indeed, the very nature of addiction is that the addict has lost all control, so these programs are predisposed to fail. [continues 153 words]
The headline for Pat Reavy's piece on heroin amongst Utah youth, "Heroin hits Utah's young" (July 18), had it backward. Heroin can't "hit" anything. The headline should have read: "Utah's young hit heroin." Such youth want to get high; they want to rebel. Long ago I was one myself. The only real answer, politically unpalatable as it is, is to scrap the drug war and return to regulated distribution to addicts as we had in the 19th century. Young people will not be turned-on by waiting in line at a government clinic somewhere for drugs. Eau Claire, WI [end]
