LEGALIZATION RISKS

I understand that Thomas Ravenel wants any kind of drug to be
available to one and all, and to be legal. But his breakdown of the
number of deaths from the various drugs used is not the whole picture.

Some young men have cocaine delivered to their door by personal drug
dealers, but thousands do not. These are the outcasts of society whose
only thought is how, when, where do I get my next fix? There is
nothing they won't do to stop this craving. They lie, steal, murder.
Lose a wife, family, job, home, friends. Nothing is as important as
cocaine and that next high.

They are the ones who, because of cocaine, live in cars. When they
sell the car for $20 to get that high, then they live under bridges or
walk the streets. Not a pretty picture. People make the choice to use
drugs, but the ones who become addicts pay a price that can not be
repaid.

Legalize drugs like cocaine? Never. An addict's body doesn't care if
his drug is legal or illegal. It only knows need.

Charleston is losing a generation of young men and women to cocaine.
We do not need to make it easier, but do everything to get drugs out
of the country for good.

If drug dealers know they will pay a high price, not just a slap on
the wrist with 10 months in jail, and if those who entertain with
cocaine parties think about its horrible consequences, perhaps our
society can help change lives.

Oh yes, among those 2,300 who die yearly from cocaine, my son was one.
This was the nightmare my family lived until the day he decided he
could no longer live with being in hell on Earth and took his life.

Cocaine, or any drug that can destroy lives, should never be made
easier to get, or be made out to be something that really isn't all
that bad.

Barbara Lide

Ashcroft Avenue

Charleston