DEALING WITH ADDICTS

Mr. Radwanski states, "...the answer is to stop treating any of them
[drug addicts] like criminals." Unfortunately, this ignores a basic
precept of criminal law with respect to drugs. Heroin is a dangerous,
addictive intoxicant that is personally and socially corrosive, hence
the criminality. The social taboo was the precursor to
criminalization.

Progressives, both liberal and conservative, misguidedly advocate
decriminalization of narcotics. Their collective error is in failing
to understand that modernity does not follow from ignoring proven taboos.

Barry Stagg, Toronto.