DRUG HYSTERIA

I had the misfortune of seeing on television the embarrassing spectacle of
our federal lawmakers aggressively grilling some of Major League Baseball's
biggest stars in the ill-conceived, over-reaching, grandstanding steroid
hearings. Merely perpetuating America's ridiculous hysteria over drugs,
these hearings revealed the deep hypocrisy in America over issues like
this. When the use of other more socially acceptable drugs like Viagra,
alcohol, nicotine and caffeine reach epidemic proportions, Congress has now
improperly inserted itself into an area that is none of its business.

The truly destructive message being sent to American kids now is that
privacy doesn't matter, that government can stick its nose anywhere it
wants, whether or not it has actual constitutional jurisdiction, and that
mindless hysteria solves problems. Maybe this will show us once and for all
that the mindless "Just Say No" campaign of the '80s and '90s, and the
invasive practice of businesses imposing drug testing on their employees
for no reasons relevant to their work, have made an intelligent, healthy
discussion of drugs impossible.

Yes we need to teach kids that steroids can hurt them, if that is a
problem. But how about a little less self-righteous posturing from
Congress, and how about exposing conservatives for claiming to want less
government when in reality they want more invasive, more oppressive
government whenever it suits their purposes?

Scott Miller

St. Louis