HUMANS WILL ALTER THEIR CONSCIOUSNESS IN SPITE OF THE LAW

I applaud Joshua Wolf Shenk's report on the hypocrisies of America's
attitudes about drugs ["America's Altered States," May]. "Just say no"
proponents argue that the line that divides "good" and "bad" drugs should
be drawn between drugs that return one to a normal state, whatever that is,
and those that provide hedonistic pleasure. Following this logic, alcohol,
caffeine, and nicotine should be outlawed, since they offer no medically
therapeutic benefits.

Public reaction to the misguided and failed Prohibition movement of the
earlier part of this century teaches us that humans will go to great
lengths to alter their consciousness in spite of the law. For thousands of
years, mankind has been ingesting, injecting, snorting, smoking, and
drinking just about anything we can get our hands on, and that habit is not
likely to change soon, however strong the desire of our lawmakers for it to
be otherwise.

Doug Fawley
Chicago