Second Opinion

STEEP DRUG TOLL

An editorial in the Vancouver Province:

What is going on in the Lower Mainland? We're supposed to be
enjoying a season of peace and goodwill. Instead, we've been hit
with a string of five tragic and seemingly pointless homicides.

The strong suspicion is that at least some of these killings are
related to our region's violent underground drug trade, which
continues to thrive, despite repeated police warnings. Why do so many
Lower Mainlanders become involved in this deadly business?

Well, the lure of easy money and the "oehigh life" is one reason.
The other is the continuing demand for illegal drugs, especially by
gullible young people looking for a quick fix to whatever ails them.
Gullibility? Yes, perhaps the saddest fatality this Christmas season
was that of 17-year-old Cheryl Mccormack of Abbotsford, who died Dec.
22 after taking the drug ecstasy. She apparently took the synthetic
drug with three other teenage girls who wanted to lose or manage their
weight.

But as Abbotsford police spokesman Const. Ian Macdonald has pointed
out, there is no such thing as "oequality control" when it comes to
ecstasy or any other illicit drug. You might get a wonderful buzz. You
might wind up dead, or poisoned.

Some commentators suggest this simply provides ammunition for those
determined to replace the "oeprohibition" of narcotics with their
legalization and regulation. And that may well be the case. In the
meantime, however, (we) must greatly increase public education about
drugs and the misery they can create.