DRUG PROHIBITION NOT DOING US ANY GOOD

Eoin Ryan, Minister of State, has the mote of drug prohibition firmly lodged
in his eye if he believes heroin is doing most of the damage. The drug
prohibition laws do all the damage. Mr Ryan proves he does not understand
the most fundamental of economic laws, the law of supply and demand, if he
believes a crackdown on importing heroin will solve anything. Build a better
mouse trap and the mice get smarter.

The idea that vices are crimes has been an abysmal world wide failure.
Governments world wide have decided to redefine their drug wars. It turns
out that vices are somehow now medical disorders that can be treated.
Control language and you control mankind, said George Orwell. Since the
separation of the Church and State we have learned to do the moralising in
medical terms. Addictions and alcoholism are myths and the theory that
supports them have never been proven.

The experts who gather to evaluate how effective prevention programmes and
treatment programs are, all have one thing in common - they believe in myth.
This is eerily similar to Spanish inquisitors gathering with church
officials to determine effectiveness of converting the Jews, witches and
heretics. The methods will be tweaked but the goal shall never be
questioned.

Addictions are choices people make to pleasure themselves; they are
stigmatising terms that are culturally conditioned. Drugs are inanimate
objects and have no voodoo like or magical powers to lure users. If Mr Ryan
needs to understand why deaths are occurring through heroin use it is the
same reason death occurred to Americans who drank black market bootleg
alcohol in the 1930s. The supply may be adulterated and there is no
pharmacological information passed out by dealers.

The solution to the problem is to restore our natural right to drugs, a
right owned by mankind since time began. Making citizens drug smart is the
duty of government in a free and open society. Making the citizens drug free
is the realm of totalitarian oppressors who stand a better chance at
controlling information necessary to indoctrinate vice into disease.

Chris Buors, 430 Winterton Ave, Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada R2K 1K4.