Reader Forum letters: 200 words max
Speaking Up columns: 500 words max

Breaking the law

Your April 28 article "Needle activist insists law hinders AIDS battle"
indicates that this unrepentant felon, arrested for illegally distributing
needles to drug addicts, may be continuing this activity even though she
faces a court hearing.

Some people consider themselves above the law. Drugs are illegal because
they result in crimes that harm society. It stands to reason that making drug
paraphernalia hard to get curbs addiction.

If, like Diane McCague, we decide to flout laws we oppose and commit
crimes, a safe and sound society could not exist because anarchy would
prevail. Your article should spur an investigation of McCague's activities
and additional criminal charges if warranted. Her attitude can be compared
to the attitudes of the Free Men in Montana and the Texan who claims that
the United States illegally absorbed his state.

Robert Kellow, Waretown


Mark Greer's recent rebuttal to my letter on giving needles to drug addicts
requires a clear response.

The issue I was addressing was simply this: Drugs are either illegal or
legal. People like Greer seem to want them to be both; they feel that even
though drug use is illegal, it is all right to provide drug paraphernalia
to users. This is wrong. If the government wants to fight a war on drugs,
fine. But it cannot do so by sanctioning the enemy or by using my money to do
things that would land me in jail.

The bottom line is that the American taxpayer has a right to his own wages,
and that comes before any selfinduced threat to the drug addict population.

Brian A. Matula, Berkeley Heights