DEMONIZING HELPLESS KIDS

Six months ago, they were unknown. Today, they threaten the heart of
democracy itself, these kids with the wide pants and repetitive music.

Or so self-serving politicians like Larry Jegley would have you
believe.

We pumped billions of dollars [into] creating an army to battle drugs
and all we succeeded in doing was increasing the appeal of drugs. The
most important part of an army is an enemy.

Lacking any visible enemy, desperate officials seeking headlines
demonize a bunch of helpless kids.

People like Jegley come and go, quickly forgotten by society. Like a
fishwife, he spouts fearful tales of drug use at raves. These are
either the hysterics of an ignorant person who should know better or
worse. The drug use at a rave is exactly the same as the drug use in
[the] culture at large.

He claimed there are two prices for water, one with drugs, one
without. That is so absurd and so far removed from truth as to boggle
the mind of any rational person.

This is cultural war, plain and simple. With 3.1 percent of the entire
population in prison, one has to wonder what percentage the government
is aiming for. At 100 percent, they can declare themselves king.

Michael Richmond, North Little Rock