DRUG LAWS ARE DRACONIAN

It always struck me as strange that the drug laws in South East Asia are so
draconian when measured against the paltry punishments for other crimes
that appear to the casual observer to be far more destructive.

To impose the death penalty for smuggling marijuana, a plant which is
readily grown throughout South East Asia, seems a grossly misplaced
priority. Other far more pernicious activities, such as human trafficking,
forced prostitution, illegal logging, poaching of endangered species, gross
violations of human rights, and the religious fanaticism that manifests
itself in horrific acts of terrorism, seem to earn little more than a slap
on the wrist.

To put it bluntly (no pun intended) from an outsider's perspective, the
sentencing of a cleric with close ties to a fanatical and murderous
terrorist group, which planned the indiscriminate slaughter of many young
men and women, causing incalculable loss to the important tourist
industries of Indonesia, to three years in prison is scandalous.

To compare that to a possible death sentence for an Australian woman for
carrying three pounds of marijuana, however reckless that act appears, is
to move into the realms of absurdity. Furthermore, in certain areas of
Indonesia it is perfectly legal to sell psychedelic mushrooms and I would
assume there are other psychtropic substances in other areas that are
similarly unregulated.

Whether or not these substances are allowed as traditional medicines, they
may certainly be more hazardous than marijuana. The overwhelming popularity
of betel chewing, palm wine, cigarettes and cheroot smoking certainly
impose enormous health costs that far outweigh those of cannabis.

Indonesia is a lovely country with many unfortunate problems, and I am not
writing to say that drugs are not one of them. All I am saying is that I
would feel a lot better if it was the murderous terrorists and militias and
the fiends that illegally destroy the irreplacable beauty of the forests
and the seas that were facing the gallows and not some hapless hippy-chick
on her way to a full moon dance party with an ill-considered choice of
party favors.

A. GALLI, New York