Dear Editor:

Re: Jack Yazer's March 20 article, "Youth problems should be issue."
He suggests repeated urine tests for all 16- and 17-year-olds in order for
them to get a driver's licence. Does MSI pay for this?

How about teaching our youth about "innocent until proven guilty" and their
Charter rights? It is alcohol that is by far the most serious risk when we
are talking about young drivers, and his "plan" has zero chance of catching
any young person drinking.

What is most ironic about his plan is that at a time when a massive Angus
Reid poll (last November) found that 83 percent of Canadians think
marijuana should be legal for medical uses, and more than half believe it
should be legal, period, he wants taxpayers to funnel health care dollars
into drug testing for all young people.

Statistics from the U.S. consistently show that, when confronted by
mandatory drug tests, workers drink alcohol more or switch to harder drugs
that leave the system faster.

Is this what Yazer wants? Isn't he proposing that MSI do the job of parents
at tax-payers' expense?

Chris Donald
Halifax