BETTER TO EDUCATE THAN CONTINUE JAILING

Crystal meth, by all government accounts, is the worst of the worst
drug-de-jours that Canadians have ever seen. The medical metaphors of
plague, epidemic and highly addictive are invoked in demonization
scare stories similar to the "reefer madness" propaganda.

Therapeutic state paternalism has and will fail humanity again. The
reason is simple enough. In the Jewish and Christian tradition,
people thought and believed that one of the most important things in
raising a child and growing up is resisting temptation. This is a
choice that is available to everyone because it is simply the choice
to abstain from something. Now thousands of years of child-rearing is
systematically undermined by the medical and governmental drug ethos
of "You poor thing. You can't help yourself. We'll take care of you."

The parable of "The Fall" makes the folly of prohibition crystal
clear. Authority making crystal meth the even more forbidden fruit
will have the age-old consequence of luring even more of the usual
gang of suspects into giving it a try. The one aspect of the parable
that children see clearly is that the supreme authority lied about
the fruit. The serpent tells the truth. Given everything humanity has
learned about the evils of prohibition and forbidding fruit, why on
earth would anybody support the policy?

The way the government can influence the system is by letting people
be exposed to temptation and suffering the consequences as early as
possible. It's to do with raising a child and training him/her how
not to wet the bed, how not to eat all night. Parents, after all, do
teach their children how to use all kinds of dangerous products
around the home and in the garden shed. Parents ought to take back
the responsibility to teach their children about the true dangers of
drugs. In that respect, it would soon become evident that the state
scheduling of drugs is based on the success of demonization
propaganda rather than on reasoned arguments.

CHRIS BUORS, president

Marijuana Party of Manitoba

Winnipeg,

Manitoba