DRUG DEATH

Geoff Woodcock

DOWNERS GROVE -- The death of the Naperville teenager from "recreational"
drugs is one of many warning signs that the government's drug policy is
getting in the way of solving certain problems. As more recreational drugs
are discovered, the possibility of ingesting something different than what
you expected will increase--many pills look alike!

Many drug dealers increase their profit by either passing off cheaper drugs
as something else or mixing small quantities of an expensive drug with a
large quantity of a cheaper drug ("cutting"). Oftentimes the mixed-in drug
is more dangerous than the advertised drug.

If the government regulated recreational drugs, we could at least be assured
that if one of our children were reckless enough to take a dangerous drug,
they would at least know what they were taking and hopefully have some way
of finding out what a non-lethal dose is. This was an unnecessary death.

DRUG POLICY

Redford Givens

SAN FRANCISCO -- It's time for parents to wake up to the fact that the drug
crusaders are 100 percent responsible for "club drug" deaths. When a drug is
outlawed, there is no quality control and lethal drugs are marketed. Bootleg
drugs contaminated with toxins cause 95 percent of the fatalities, so there
is no question that lunatic drug warriors are to blame by making it possible
to market such poisons.

In a legal market, drugs would be regulated for quality. . Indeed, MDMA
(Ecstasy) in a pure state is a remarkably safe drug. The bootleg products
that cause the problems could never be sold in a legal market without proper
safety controls.

The result of a drug ban is not improved safety, but more dangerous drugs.

The lesson about toxic bootleg drugs should have been learned in the 1920s
and '30s, when bootleg booze caused thousands of cases of brain damage,
paralysis, permanent liver damage, kidney failure and deaths every year. As
soon as liquor was relegalized and put under regulatory control, these
tragic poisoning deaths stopped.

Drug prohibition is the most counterproductive policy in U.S. history.