WAR ON DRUGS WON'T WORK HERE

Re: Ottawa embarking on its own war on drugs, Column, June 12

There's no such thing as a war on "drugs." A war targets people, in
this case drug users and sellers, including anyone who grows six
plants in their basement. It didn't work in the U.S. and it won't work
in Canada. It diverts precious resources away from fighting crime and
large crime syndicates supplying the small sellers and users.

Left over from the '60s is our misperception that street drugs are
used primarily by "thrill-seekers." The reality is that most drug
addicts are seeking relief from the pain they endure every day. They
are victims of child abuse, enslaved as prostitutes, or suffer from a
physical or mental condition that they are trying to
self-medicate.

What these people need is medical intervention in a "decriminalized"
environment: a legal, regulated distribution of drugs to sufferers in
a clinic by doctors along with alternative treatments. Get them off
the street and take away the profits from the criminal gangs.

D. Scott Barclay,
Georgetown