OPIUM DENS A WARNING

May I draw the attention of those who support the legalization of marijuana
to remember what happened to China not more than 200 years ago when Great
Britain sold, pushed and legalized opium for the Chinese (Police officers
launch drive against pot decriminalization, May 28)?

Once this "gateway drug" to stronger drugs is opened, those depend(ent) on
drugs, will behave no better than animals, selling themselves and their
families, and becoming slaves to the master who controls the drugs.

This essentially was what happened to China. It took Mao's revolution to
eradicate the drugs, to the great and lasting displeasure of the drug lords.

One might say that conditions would be different this time and everything
would be clean and properly set up. But the British, too, had similar
conditions in place - such as official opium-smoking dens. From the Chinese
experience, it has been proven that the general population did not
benefit. In fact, it kept them poor and subservient. Are we paving the
road to having perfect slaves?

Jean Foo

Vancouver