MONEY SPENT ON WAR AGAINST DRUGS BETTER SPENT ELSEWHERE

Too bad Manitobans are wasting money policing the self medicating
habits of citizens rather than spending that money on schools or hospitals.

The 23-year-old Morden woman recently arrested and charged with
trafficking will likely cost us upwards of $50,000 to prosecute, more
if she goes to jail, not to mention the lost productivity any
individual with a criminal record thereafter contributes to the economy.

All that in the name of saving people from themselves.

There is nothing conservative or compassionate about criminalizing
people for their vices. There can be no doubt drug prohibition has the
same dynamics as did alcohol prohibitions of the past.

It would seem Hells Angels president Ernie Dew was arrested on various
prohibition related charges last year, and the new president Dale
Donovan was arrested this year on similar prohibition related charges.
No doubt, the next leader will be arrested next year, as Manitobans
watch the jails fill and our schools and hospitals
deteriorate.

In the meantime, the body count grows with every round of enterprising
ruffians vying for the coveted leadership positions the police open up
in the underground.

Canadians must give the idea of repealing drug prohibition some
serious thought if we are to have safe streets without turning Canada
into a police state.

Stephen Harper is going down the wrong path with Bill C-26. If harsh
sentences worked, America would have been drug free a long time ago.

All the harsh punishments that human beings have ever inflicted on one
another has yet to build a single moral fibre into anybody. People
have to choose to be of moral character.

The bottom line, you can get over an addiction, but no one gets over a
criminal conviction.

Vices are not crimes, and the criminalizing of vice has done nothing
except breed disrespect for the law.

The unleashing of St. George to battle dragons is what training the
police in drug investigative techniques is all about. A lot of
innocent people get hurt when St. George is battling dragons.

The drug war is but humanity's latest manifestation of a scapegoat
persecution. One 23-year-old woman from Morden being sacrificed is one
too many.

CHRIS BUORS

Libertarian

Winnipeg