DRUG EDUCATION SHOULD FOCUS ON THE TRUTH

Dear Editor:

Junk food kills and injures many TIMES more Canadians each year than
all illegal drugs combined. So does doctor error, prescription
drugs, booze and tobacco.

The problem I have with the current drug "education" is that it
always focuses on the bad. Dangers, addictions, crime, punishment,
disappointing family, shame. Why not just teach truth?

Why must we control people's minds and decisions?

Why must we exaggerate and instill fear and fealty? Kids have to
measure that against the list of people who's lives and creativity
has been enhanced by drug use and made the world a much better place.

People like John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Star, Drew Barrymore,
Jack Black, Dave Chappelle, Tommy Chong, Cameron Diaz, Woody
Harrelson, Shia LaBeouf, Bill Maher, Cheech Marin, Method Man, Pierre
Berton, Pierre Trudeau, Paul McCartney, Bill Murray, Willie Nelson,
Barack Obama, Mary-Louise Parker, Amy Poehler, Sean Penn, Michele
Philips, Michael Phelps, Redman, Seth Rogen, Seth McFarlane, Seth
Green Snoop Dogg, Steph Sherer, Sarah Silverman, Katt Williams, Owen
Wilson, Neil Young, George Carlin, Jerry Garcia, Bob Marley, Jennifer
Aniston, Brad Pitt, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Pierce Brosnan,Bill Gates,
Steven King, Sarah McLachlan, Montel Williams, Gene Krupa, Buddy
Rich, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dan Aykroyd, Lewis Black, Michael
Bloomberg, Sir Richard Bronson, George W. Bush, Fidel Castro, Bing
Crosby, David Crosby, Macaulay Culkin, Matt Damon, RodneyDangerfield,
Ben Affleck, Bob Denver, John Denver, Melissa Etheridge, Kevin Smith,
Alanis Morisette, Walker Evans, Errol Flynn, Morgan Freeman, Art
Garfunkel, Newt Gingrich, Alan Ginsberg, Ed Harris, Daryl Hannah,
Paris Hilton, David Hockney, Whitney Houston, Victor Hugo, Chrissie
Hynde, Grace Slick, John F. Kennedy, John Kerry, Queen Latifah, Phil
Lesh, John Lennon, Norman Mailer, Groucho Marx, Matthew McConaughey,
Frances McDormand, George Michael, John Stuart Mill, Robert Mitchum,
Jack Nicholson, Pablo Picasso, Ross Rebagliati, Arthur Rimbaud, Diego
Rivera, Susan Sarandon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, William Shakespeare,
Robert Smith, Sting, Ted Turner, Queen Victoria, Pancho Villa, Prince
Harry, Ricky Williams, Robbie Williams, Robin Williams, William
Butler Yeats, Philip K. Dick, Maynard James Keenan, Eddie Vedder,
John Popper, Lil Wayne, Gandalf, J.K. Rowling, Milton Berle, Jack
Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Irvine Welsh, Johnny Depp, Hunter S.
Thompson, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Keanu Reeves,
Kristen Steward, John Stewart, Kid Rock, Chris Rock, Pamela Anderson,
Ashton Kutcher, Annie Liebowitz, Adam Clayton, David Faustino, Ricky
Williams, James Brown, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, David Lee Roth,
Carlos Santana, Freddy Fender, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Malcolm X, Allen
Iverson, Haley, Joel Osment, Jason Mewes, Mischa Barton, Salvador
Dali, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger,
Leonard Cohen, B.B. King, Steven Page, Brian Wilson, Anthony Kiedis,
John Malkovich, Charlie Sheen, Francis Ford Coppola, Dennis Hopper,
Barbara Streisand, Liza Minelli, Yoko Ono, Billy Idol, Ozzy Osbourne,
Jack White, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Boy George, Daniel Lanois, David
Bowie, Elton John, Fionna Apple, Tori Amos, Jewel, Stevie Nicks,
Christine McVie, Shirley Manson, Pink, Jacob Dylan, Billie Joe
Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tre Cool, Dr. Dre, Burton Cummings, Jimmy
Page, Robert Plant, Iggy Pop, Jackson Brown, James Taylor, Ritchie
Havens, Country Joe McDonald, Perry Farrell, Ian Anderson, Joe
Jackson, Joni Mitchell, Ian Curtis, David Gilmour, Lou Reed, John
Sebastian, Marilyn Manson, Trent Reznor, Paul Simon, Joey Ramone,
David Byrne, Jeff Martin, Tom Waites, Tracy Chapman, Peter Fonda,
Jane Fonda, Eddie Van Halen, Van Morrison, Chris Cornell and Rivers
Quomo, to name just a few.

Russell Barth, Federally Licensed Medical Marijuana User Patients
Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis (PAIDOC)
www.paidoc.org Nepean, Ontario