a) Encourage people to refrain from seeking crack.

b) Put crack dealers out of business.

c) Make first-time users less likely to try crack.

d) Force crack activities and sales transactions to other
locations.

It's a classic finger-in-the-dike solution. Similar to the idea of
arresting squeegee kids and panhandlers, padlocking crackhouses does
not deal with the source of the problem. More jails and more police is
a copout that shows a lack of depth in research and investigation and
only serves to cover up the problem.

Why deal with the symptoms of a problem instead of the cause? Although
the causes of substance abuse are not easily located, finding them and
dealing with them directly are more beneficial to society.

By directing resources at identifying them and then focusing ideas on
how to solve them, there is a greater chance the solutions will be
permanent and ultimately, less expensive.

For a party that pretends to be progressive, this policy initiative
isn't.

Eugene Spanier
Toronto

(Progressive would be someone in government taking a good look at
decriminalizing drug use. We're sure not winning the war against them
using today's tactics)

Comment: Parenthetical remarks by the Toronto Sun editor