DOOMED STRATEGY

Re: Harmful impressions, Oct. 10

The federal government's proposed drug strategy simply will not work.
It smacks of a strategy driven by hype, emotion and political
expediency. It will do nothing to reduce the use of drugs in this country.

Can we not learn something from our southern neighbours about a
failed drug strategy, a strategy that dates back to the 1970s? Or are
we slow learners -- or simply don't care! The most punitive,
draconian drug laws in the western world have not stopped the flow
into and the use of drugs in the U.S. "Say no to drugs!" -- what a joke.

It's about time we start treating drug addiction for what it is,
namely a public-health problem.

Costly incarceration and political grandstanding have never and will
never work.

Emile Therien,

Ottawa