DITCH THE DRUG WAR

So Antonio Maria Costa, the United States "Drug Czar," is urging
Canada to take proactive measures against the illegal manufacture of
amphetamines. Apparently, Canadian gangs have become the leading
suppliers of amphetamine-related drugs to the United States. Perhaps
Mr. Costa should reconsider his position. Six years ago, when a USAF
plane, in error, bombed and killed four Canadian soldiers in
Afghanistan, we learned that amphetamines are routinely issued to
American combat pilots.

Surely Mr. Costa should be asking why it is that amphetamines are
illegal for the general public but legal for soldiers armed with
rockets and bombs. For a quarter of a century, the U.S. has been
waging a "war on drugs" that has done nothing to reduce drug use but
instead has created criminal empires that have destabilized countries
in every continent of the world (OK, excluding Antarctica). During the
Vietnam War, an American officer was reported to have said: "We had to
destroy the village in order to save it." The supporters of the "war
on drugs" seem to believe that in order to save civil society, they
must first destroy it. One would hope that rational people would
consider other alternatives that, while imperfect, would be less disastrous.

John K. Collins
Winnipeg