U.S. DRUG REGULATIONS ARE TOO GENERAL AND CONFUSING

This letter is in response to the letter from Mr. Bill Custer that appeared
in the July 21 edition of the Grand Island Independent.

In his letter Mr. Custer states that drugs are not a "harmless addiction."
Addiction by its very nature is not harmless regardless of the substance.
The problem is that our current drug policies don't make the distinction
between hard drugs and soft drugs, nor do they distinguish between use and
abuse.

Drug laws need to say one of three things. 1) That all recreational drugs
are fundamentally bad (alcohol tobacco and Viagra, too) and should be
banned. 2) That all recreational drugs are not fundamentally bad and should
not be regulated. 3) The rational approach would be to say that all drugs
should be studied scientifically and regulated according to how addictive
or dangerous they are. Our current policies are confusing at best and
contradict each other at worst.

It seems odd that so many people have difficulty making the distinction
between use and abuse with soft drugs such as marijuana, yet they have no
problem making that distinction with alcohol even if they do not drink
themselves.

Jim Barrick
Valencia, Calif.