DRUG PROBLEMS NO SECRET

I read in the Bulletin's recent series on youth drug use of Lequita Twete's
difficulties in surviving her drug addictions and wondered whats is the
point? Perhaps you intended it as a warning to parents. We parents were, or
should have been, aware that there would be many hazards " out there " when
we had our children.

The headline " Drugs not a problem? Think again " suggests that there are
some who believe otherwise. Such believers will be hard to find. Perhaps it
is intended to be a warning against reforming or liberlizing our
prohibitionist drug laws. That's pointless too, because, as the article
makes clear, drug law reform cannot make "Illegal" drugs anymore available.

Drug abuse is a problem that is made worse by prohibitionist drug laws. If
experience is our guide we must predict that Ms. Twete will fall off the
wagon again. Should that happen, she will not be helped by being sent to
prison, where daily life is a dreary, unrelenting challenge and drugs are
plentiful.

Finally, she did not do a "Clinton" when she first tried marijuana. She
tried it, she liked the experience and/or the people associated with it.
She kept looking for better, stronger drugs that would give her respite
from whatever devils were pursuing her. Many people use drugs, both legal
and illegal, every day without becomimg abusers.

Good luck and my best wishes to Ms. Tewte.