EDITORIAL IS CLAPTRAP; DRUG LAWS BASED ON RACISM

Re: "Drugs: Illegal for a reason," Daily News editorial, July 21.

What absolute claptrap! Drugs are indeed prohibited "for a reason" but
to argue that drugs are banned because of the harm they do makes no
sense whatsoever.

Nearly all the harm done to users and non-users alike by illegal drugs
is because the drugs are prohibited. Thousands were poisoned by
adulterated booze during prohibition and thousands more are dying
today because of adulterated drugs, an aspect of government policy my
wife and I became well-acquainted with when our 19-year-old son,
Peter, died shortly after ingesting some street heroin in 1993. Drug
prohibition encourages crime, too, as was shown when Al Capone rose to
power after alcohol was banned.

Let us never forget also that drug prohibition is racist in origin. It
began almost a century ago when the drugs used by certain non-white
minorities (blacks, Chinese, Mexicans) were banned ostensibly to
protect virtuous, white, Christian women from being seduced by these
minorities.

Drug laws are an ideal vehicle for social control because they can be
applied in an arbitrary manner. Middle class white swingers can
indulge their pleasures with impunity. Drug laws apply only to certain
social groups: the poor, the coloured, the young, the unemployed,
those on the street. Today, the police are happy to make use of this
racist legislation to control and harass those whose lifestyle,
haircut or skin colour offends them.

The best way to reduce the harm and heartbreak of illegal drugs is to
end drug prohibition. Let's legalize all drugs, remove the propaganda
and the police from the equation and have the drugs manufactured by
knowledgeable, competent organizations that will supply cheap, quality
tested drugs of known purity and potency and that, in order to avoid
legal liability, will impart factual drug information to us and to our
children.

ALAN RANDELL

Victoria