FREE SOCIETY DOES WHAT'S BEST FOR OTHERS

Re: 'Drug lab bust shows society not free,' Letters, June 24.

Alan Randell from Victoria, B.C., writes: "In a free society, those
who engage in an activity that does not directly and physically harm
another are not regarded as criminals. ... In a free society,
therefore, drugs and prostitution would be legal."

What fairy tale world is he living in?

I don't know how it is in Victoria, but here in Ontario and most
other places, drug users are responsible for committing thousands of
crimes a day in order to obtain money for drugs.

Drug use also causes something called addiction, which is a terrible
physical and mental condition that can destroy individuals as well as families.

Many girls and women turn to prostitution to support their drug
addiction, thus leaving them vulnerable to both contract and spread
venereal diseases, some of which can be fatal.

Innocent victims can also contract these diseases, such as wives of
men who visit prostitutes.

A free society is not one in which individuals can do anything that
does not "directly and physically harm another."

In that case, verbal and emotional abuse would be quite acceptable.

No, in a free society people and government try to do what is best to
help others to develop to their fullest potential. That does not
include getting high or selling your body.

Roslyn Campbell