RE: NEEDLE EXCHANGES NO CURE FOR DRUG WOES

Re "Needle exchanges no cure for drug woes,"by Claudette Cain (July 22):
Cain says, that if every school in the country had a program like, Disons
Non (Say No), our next generation would be virtually drug free.

Bearing in mind that the country's largest "just say no" drug program, Drug
Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) has been found to be ineffective, one
wonders where Ms Cain obtained the evidence that Disons Non works.

Has the drug use of the graduates of this program been tracked over time
and compared to non-graduates? I fear not.

Hoping for a drug-free generation is simply whistling at the moon, of
course. Mankind has been ingesting hallucinatory substance for thousands of
years and no little rinky-dink "just say no" program in our schools is
going to change the fact that human beings enjoy drugs.

Ms Cain should know that coffee is a drug, beer is a drug, tobacco is a
drug. Ms Cain shies away from discussing the legal status of drugs, as well
she might because there is no more reason to punish those who ingest
illegal drugs today than there was in the past to hang witches.

Alan and Eleanor Randell

(You had a fine argument going until the last line)