DRUG WAR DESPERATELY NEEDS ANOTHER LOOK

When journalists let drug-war enforcers act as gatekeepers for drug
information, important facts are often omitted or distorted, as in your
Nov. 14 methamphetamine story.

Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Special Agent Tim O'Malley said, ``Meth
users are dangerous.'' That's misleading.
The vast majority of meth users are not dangerous.

On May 5, a San Jose Mercury News article (see
www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n478.a10.html
(http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n478.a10.html))titled
``Violence-drug link disputed: Justice Department report contradicts
common perception'' reaffirmed that the meth-violence cliche is a hoax
used by police to stir up public fear: ``According to the study, meth
users were found `significantly less likely' than other drug arrestees
to be charged with a violent offense.'' Pioneer Press reporters
laudably questioned police assertions about the prevalence of meth use
in Minnesota. In general, drug users are normal people.

The image of bloodthirsty dopeheads is drug-war propaganda used to
justify curtailing our constitutional rights and to uphold a monstrous
anti-drug bureaucracy. On drug issues, substantial misrepresentations
of fact get huge headlines. Factual corrections receive, at best, an
occasional letter to the editor, hardly adequate to undo the damage of
official lying. Something's wrong here. Doesn't anyone care that
American citizens are being duped on a daily basis by our government?
Don't we care that American journalists are asleep at the wheel?

Paul M. Bischke
St. Paul

The writer is co-director of the Drug Policy
Reform Group of Minnesota.