LETTER OF THE WEEK

DEATHS A CONSEQUENCE OF PROHIBITION

By Bruce Symington

The tragedy of the two young girls in a coma or dead due to taking
unknown street drugs is yet another foreseeable, predictable
consequence of the prohibition on drugs. You doubt that statement?
Let us compare to the 'other' prohibition of last millennium:
alcohol. When alcohol was prohibited, gangsters made and sold
liquor. The physical harm alone caused by that liquor was extensive,
because it was made by amateurs in uncontrolled conditions.
Prohibition did not stop drinking, and its repeal did not entirely
stop the harm caused by alcohol. But the harm now is much less
significant and far more manageable than that caused by prohibition.
Likewise, if ecstasy was made by pharmaceutical companies with
controlled sales, these girls would not be dead. As a society, it is
time for us to grow up and admit that people will do what they want.
The only gauge of an approach is whether it leads to more harms or
fewer to legalize it. Therefore, prohibition must end.

Bruce Symington

( It's an abject reality some simply don't want to accept. )

Pubdate: Sat, 28 Mar 2009

Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)

Note: Parenthetical remark by the Sun editor, headline by newshawk.

Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n340/a07.html