SOMETHING TO CONSIDER

Editor:

I have other ideas than the ones written by Anonymous in the letter
entitled Let's pull together in the Nov. 1 issue.

Anonymous claims that it is a "lack of laws and government support"
that is causing the scourge of drug dens popping up in our
communities. I think that it is lack of education, lack of treatment
and lack of family support that is at the root of the problem. People
should turn off their televisions and talk to their children about
such matters in an open and forthright manner. They should take the
time and the effort to know where their children are and what they
are doing at all times.

It is true that in the end, some of our children will fall through
the cracks and become dependent on these substances. Some of them
will be forced to sell these drugs to others in order to keep
themselves supplied. So how does it benefit our society to throw some
young person who has fallen prey to drugs in prison for years?

If you take legality out of the equation, then you will quickly see,
as I do, that drug addiction is a social problem, not a criminal
matter and that punishing addicts is a waste of time. These people
need treatment and communal support, not jail sentences. As for the
dealers, whom Anonymous is clearly afraid of and for good reason, if
we take the criminality out of drug use and abuse, these unsavory
characters who would profit from the misery of others will lose their
market overnight and their drug houses will soon follow.

Carl Anderson

Federal Medical Marijuana Exemptee

Kamloops, B.C.