WE ALL WANT SANER, SAFER SOCIETY

To: the Editor

We have enjoyed watching the letters since "A different approach to
drug education" was published in the Coast Reporter. We feel the need
to state that we continue to endorse abstinence as the safest choice
that pre-teens and teens can make concerning drug and alcohol use. We
also recognize that statistics show the majority of high school
students will experiment with alcohol and drugs, and it is important
to note that most students get through this time relatively unscathed.

Educators For Sensible Drug Policy, www.efsdp.org, is committed to
helping bring forth the message that truthful information about all
drugs, presented clearly and non-judgementally, cannot cause harm. It
may offend some people's sensibilities, and disturb those who do not
want to hear it, but it cannot hurt people. On the other hand, false
information can and does lead people to harm themselves and others.

Over the past few weeks we have read many opinions in the Coast
Reporter and it is important to remember that even though opinions may
differ, when it comes to the broad strokes, most of us seem to want
the same thing: a saner and safer society.

We just may have differing ideas on how to get there.

However interesting and important opinions may be, we feel it is
important to keep a few facts in mind:

Approximately eighty years ago, alcohol was illegal in Canada, and the
dangerous rise in violent crime and decrease in public safety was
directly attributed to the illegal alcohol trade.

The solution to this problem was to legalize alcohol and regulate the
production and distribution, and the legitimizing of this business put
an end to criminal involvement. See `Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition' http://www.leap.cc

Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, virtually all pharmaceuticals
and many popular recreational drugs all have lethal doses, while
Cannabis does not. In addition, Cannabis has an ancient history of
medical, sacred and recreational use by humans.

Drug prohibition is hugely expensive to maintain, costing Canadian
taxpayers approximately 1.2 billion dollars annually. Approximately
sixty percent of the people in jail are there for non-violent drug
offences and sixty percent of those are for marijuana. Over 90% of
every federal dollar spent on the `illegal drug problem' goes to law
enforcement and this leaves very little money for drug education, and
for a health =AD care based approach to the problems of addiction.

Alcohol is toxic by nature and, despite being legal still causes huge
misery for many people and enormous costs to society.

This is still far better than prohibiting alcohol, a proven social
failure.

Modern research untainted by political agenda shows cannabis to be of
immense medical potential and in the words of United States DEA
Administrative Law Judge Francis Young, "Cannabis is one of the least
toxic therapeutically active substances known to man." Our own
Canadian Senate in it's 2001 special report on recreational drugs
recommended full legalization of cannabis.

In our next LTE we will offer some opinions on this
issue.

Judith and Paul Renaud

Educators for Sensible Drug Policy

Gibsons, British Columbia