METH FORUM JUST A WITCH HUNT

The idea that a "proactive" community can defeat the immutable forces
of supply and demand concerning crystal meth is comparable to the idea
that a proactive community can defeat heresy or witchcraft, which,
along with converting the Jews, is exactly what our ancestors were
preoccupied with.

That the school division, the police service, Addictions Foundation of
Manitoba, the Brandon Regional Health Authority, Child and Family
Services, the Brandon Ministerial Association, Manitoba Justice and
the City of Brandon are all on board does not mean the idea is
meritorious. The Christian Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition's witch
hunts and Nazism all enjoyed overwhelming support from the community,
too. "No pious platitudes ... can get over the fact that a bought mind
is a spoiled mind," said George Orwell.

Absent from that list was an anthropologist or a pharmacologist. One
could explain the ceremonial and ritual aspect of substance use, which
is as old as humanity is itself and the other could best explain the
properties of drugs. The absence of truth tellers is revealing.

If the people of Brandon wonder what a good old-fashioned witch hunt
looked like, they need look no further than the event that occurred in
the cafeteria Wednesday evening at Crocus Plains Regional Secondary
School.

CHRIS BUORS

President

Manitoba Marijuana Party

Winnipeg