THE POISONERS AMONG US

When we wrote an editorial recently on the dangers of illegal drug
use, we hadn't expected to start a national debate on the topic, But
since we have, let's take a close look at some of the arguments
offered by those who wish to poison our communities. Our friends at
reconsider, a drug legalization group, placed a copy of our editorial
on the Internet and invited pro drug users around the country to offer
thier thoughts on our views. Since the editorial was posted, we've had
letters from St. Lawrence County, Syracuse, N.Y., Illinois and
Minnesota, just to name a few of the places our new pen pals have come
from.

We wish to thank Reconsider for offering us a national audience,
although we doubt that we'll convince very many members of a national
advocacy group dedicated to legalizing the recreational use of
dangerous drugs.

Our views, however, are not directed at convincing the drug dealers or
their addicts of the error of their ways. Instead, we are addressing
the average citizen who might be tempted to buy into the notion that
the drug war isn't worth waging.

The reality, as most of the recreational drug users are well aware, is
that America will never legalize the recreational use of dangerous
drugs. The real purpose of such advocacy groups is not to legalize
recreational drug use. It's aim is to weaken the resolve of the
American people and to convince them that its just not worth the
effort to zealously prosecute those who peddle their poisons to our
children. If they can succeed in confusing the general public about
the value of prosecuting those who deal in death, they make it
possible to reduce public funding for the drug war, and open up our
streets to those who wish to peddle their deadly wares to our children.

An excellent example is Burlington, Vt., just a four hour drive from
here. Burlington is home to several colleges and has a large
population of aging hipsters who either fondly recall their
recreational drug use or in some cases still enjoy it. The result has
been a large and active group that is constantly advocating the
legalization of drugs and ardently opposes any attempt by law
enforcement agencies to crack down on those who profit from
merchandising deadly drugs to the area's young people.

The result has been three fold.

Numerous politicians have been elected to public office who share
their views that drug use really isn't such a bad hobby. They make it
clear to the law ecforcement agencies that they don't want their
dealers bothered in their commercial ventures.

Law enforcement agencies in the Burlington area follow the directions
of the pro drug use lobby. The police choose to ignore the drug
peddlers who operate quite freely and openly near Burlington's ferry
docks. At that open air drug market, children as young as 13-years of
age can and do buy LSD, heroin, crack and a broad range of other
dangerous drugs while police ignore it because the politicians in
Burlington have made it clear the don't want the police to offend the
pro drug groups.

The result of that kind of attitude is a large number of addicts in
the Burlington area. The addict population is so large there that it
is one of the few communities we've seen where drug rehab programs
actually place advertisements in the newspapers and alternative weekly
publications that cater to the recreational drug users. We can
understand why so many counselors involved in drug rehabilitation
programs encourage drug legalization. What better way to encourage
wider use and to guarantee larger numbers of addicts that may some day
need their services than to reduce the stigma associated with
recreational drug abuse.

In most places, like St.Lawrence County, addicts end up in drug rehab
because they've gotten into trouble with the law in one way or another. To
avoid jail, they go into drug rehab. While the drug legalization lobby
would like to portray the issue as police crackdown vs. drug rehab, as if
one somehow makes the other impossible, the reality is far different. In
St.Lawrence County, any drug addict who needs treatment has ready access to
a variety of publicly funded programs. The court system in St.Lawrence
County, as it should, prefers to send addicts to treatment, instead of to
jail. The real issue, however, has never been about a lack of treatment.
It's about stopping those who profit from actively addicting others.
That's why we as a community have an obligation to support cracking down on
the poisoner among us.