DARE WITHOUT ANALYSIS

To the Editor:

There is a very good reason for allowing only adults to vote. Children
are not able to understand the nuances which convert many black and
white situations into various shades of gray.

Read the naive article from the Oct. 25 opinion section on
prohibition, wherein she calls for a return to alcohol prohibition.
Her reasoning for this position comes straight out of a DARE class she
took in grade seven: Drugs are bad, okay? Alcohol is a drug.
Therefore, alcohol is bad and will keep you from reaching your full
potential, mkay?

She then applies her DARE-inspired critical thinking skills and
derives, "Therefore, we must add alcohol to the list of banned
substances we are currently failing to control."

She fails to see what is happening all around her with illegal drugs,
she fails to heed the lessons of history regarding alcohol prohibition
and she fails to use critical thinking skills to evaluate her position
and the lessons she was taught in DARE. When she develops those skills
she will be all grown up and ready to vote. Until then, she is a work
in progress, though progress is obviously painfully slow.

Bruce Symington

Alberta, Canada