'FACT BASED' DISCUSSIONS HAVE BEEN USELESS

Dr. Dixon explains the need for "a fact-based public discussion of the
problem free of the hysteria and morality play..." But fact-based
discussions, so far, have been useless because they begin with the
tacit assumption that the problem is "drugs." so we flap our gums
comparing drug A to drug B to drug C, and end by agreeing that no drug
is risk-free. We should have been discussing how to manage that risk.
If the problem were "drugs" we'd have prohibited such substances as
laughing gas and model airplane glue (for sniffing), tobacco and
alcohol. (Actually, we did prohibit alcohol in the 1920s, but learned
not to try again, and not to try with tobacco.) So, yes, a fact-based
public debate, "resolved that prohibition causes more societal damage
than it prevents."

John Chase,

Palm Harbor