DRUG USE HEALTH ISSUE

Re: End costly drug war (SP, June 30).

There is no rational argument why the health issue of drug use and
abuse should managed by police and the criminal law.

As Scientific American has reported, countries that have
decriminalized recreational drug use have seen drastic drops in
addictions and overdose rates. It is obvious that competition for
legal drugs such as tobacco involves far fewer violent wars than does
the illegal drug trade.

Police are not doctors, and vice versa. Doctors can't arrest us for
ignoring their advice. Most of us like to be healthy, so we usually
heed the advice. But many people resent being told by police what they
can and can't ingest.

When someone is operating an automobile on a public road under the
influence of a drug, I fully agree that police should be able to
remove the person from the road to keep others safe. But I cannot
understand why we allow police to interfere in our personal health
choices, when evidence shows that it is more effective, cheaper for
government and more respectful of our autonomy as adults, to treat
drug use as a health issue rather than a crime.

Devin Ens
Saskatoon