GET REAL: USERS ARE NOT 'VICTIMS'

To the Editor:

According to letter writer Larry Seguin, of Lisbon, N.Y., our hearts
should bleed for the "victims of the war on drugs (aka drug
users)."Seguin then expresses agreement with letter writer Kirk Muse
of Mesa, Ariz., (to whom I responded previously) that the current
"medical marijuana" debate is too limited, that marijuana should be
legalized for recreational use as well.

The agenda of a self-indulgent and muddle-headed minority is exposed
for what it is in these letters. That both these writers believe drug
users are a "victims group" comparable to the true victims of the
Holocaust (as Muse has flatly stated, and for which Seguin has
expressed support) displays a complete detachment from reality.

But, as a further observation, the fact that the Daily Record
stimulates audiences in such far away places as the Adirondacks and
Arizona indicates the surprisingly widespread influence of local
newspapers in this electronic age. Our small voices do not simply
"curse the darkness," they apparently still make it sit up and take
notice nationally when truth is spoken. This is good news for democracy.

Edmund Burke once stated that evil only triumphs when good people do
nothing. I suggest that there ought to be a few more people today
weighing in when completely stupid and self-serving proposals are
made to undermine our society, rather than accepting such things passively.

WILLIAM NICKOLEY

Rockaway