ECSTASY LAW WILL ULTIMATELY BE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

Dear Editor,

If 23-year-old Kelley McEnery Baker had died in a skydiving accident rather
than from taking Ecstasy, it is unlikely that there would have been an
anti-skydiving law named after her. Somehow, jumping out of an airplane is
seen as wholesome fun, so a certain number of fatalities is deemed
acceptable. When it comes to people having fun partying, one death can
provoke a hysterical response like Kelley's Law.

How many classrooms will Illinoisans have to give up in order to build
prison cells for the six-to 30-year sentences for Ecstasy offenders under
Kelley's Law? How many families will have to be ripped apart in the
process? How much more profit for illegal drug sellers will result from
the increased risk and how much more will that drive the market for even
more deadly look-alike drugs? Only one thing is certain, increasing the
penalties for Ecstasy will do nothing to prevent future club-drug deaths.

Naming a cynical, demagogic, unaffordable and ultimately counterproductive
law after this young woman only dishonors her memory. Her mother is being
horribly manipulated to consent to this travesty just as Illinois' voters
are being emotionally manipulated to support the same old drug laws that
have failed us again and again.

Larry A. Stevens

Springfield