On Target!

Dear Editor,

Les Mann was right on target with his column urging George Bush to
come clean on his alleged drug use, Sept 14, NDNews. Honesty by Bush
would help this country get over a big drug hurdle; the abilty to be
honest about drug use and its results.

Most adults have used illegal drugs of some kind at least once in
their life (alcohol and tobacco are illegal drugs if you are a minor),
but just try getting them to admit it. My goodness, they even lie to
their own children about it.

George Bush is an embarrassment to the War on Drugs and everybody who
thinks its right to destroy a persons life just for possessing even
the most minute amount of these few drugs.

You are not supposed to be able to use illegal drugs and succeed in
life. It just isn't possible, or so we are taught from a very young
age. The zero tolerance drug policy that we use to punish our school
children with, teaches them that any use spells disaster and even death.

If these children are caught with even a small amount of any of these
drugs at school, we attempt to destroy their life before it has even
started by denying them a decent education, and tossing them into the
juvenile criminal justice system.

I personally think our drug laws are about as dumb as it gets, but
until we smarten up and change them, nobody - not even George W Bush -
should not be allowed to profit from flaunting them. If you pretend it
doesn't matter that GWB used drugs, if he did, you are spitting in the
face of everyone doing prison time for the same crime, as well as
every child who has ever been kicked out of school for the same
"youthful indiscretion."

The only difference between Clinton, Gore, Gingrich, Jeb Bush, and
probably GW Bush as well, and hundreds of thousands of otherwise
honest people who have been ruined by our drug laws, is whether or not
you got caught by the law. Is "do whatever you want, but just don't
get caught" the message we want to send our children?

sincerely,

Arthur Sobey