SOME DRUGS SHOULD NEVER BE LEGALIZED

To The Editor:

In reply to Mr. Russel Barth regarding street drugs and kids:

Dear Mr. Barth,

Your suggestion "that if drugs of all kinds were legalized and sold in
a controlled and regulated market" my child would have less chance of
coming into contact with drug dealers as he did two weeks ago is
absolute unadulterated poppycock. Allow the controlled and regulated
sale of such substances as cocaine in it's various forms, heroin, and
crystal meth Mr. Barth? To children? To adults? Which head of which
cartel would you have as Prime Minister Mr. Barth?

You claim in your letter to The Hope Standard that you are from
Ottawa. I have no doubt of that Mr. Barth as your suggestion easily
falls within what I have come to expect from folks who hang out in
that centre of vacuum theories and guilded stupidity. You obviously
haven't observed the horrendous effects of street drugs in Hope or any
of the other Canadian communities I have lived in.

You claim that we need to legalize drugs and spend more money
educating our kids about them Mr. Barth. Should we also legalize
pornography, spousal abuse, armed robbery, poaching and all manner of
other devastating and destructive criminal activities? Why not just
toss out the Criminal Codes Mr. Barth and let children fend for
themselves through "education" and grow up to be fine happy adults
through that "education"? Why even bother protecting the kids from
anything Mr. Barth? After all, the vermin that peddle drugs to kids
can't really be all that bad. And ditto for gangrene.

I'll tell you why Mr. Barth. I happen to love my kids and I want to
have them around me forever. I want them to be have happy, healthy,
and secure lives. My wife and I have educated them Mr. Barth. Why do
you think my thirteen year old son walked away from the drug dealers
that approached him? Why do you think he came to us with the details?

I too have been educated Mr. Barth. I will not engage in an assinine
debate that attempts to equate street drugs with the use of alcohol
and Prohibition. Yes, booze which can also be very destructive but in
very different ways that at least may be dealt with a greater degree
of hope and success.

I have been married for decades to a gal who has dealt with the
affects of street drugs as a member of medical teams. I have
acquaintances, friends, and relatives in other professions such as
policing and social work who have also had to deal with the effects of
street drugs. My best education with street drugs has come from
watching kids and families descend into the vortex of Hell as a result
of their use. I have watched helplessly as good people lost everything
including themselves or their children over a very short time to such
substances as crack and crystal meth. These people came from all walks
of life Mr. Barth and the destruction that was visited upon them is
nothing less than cold callous deliberate murder.

You do not agree with humiliating and incarcerating drug dealers Mr.
Barth. Neither do I. I think that kind of passive treatment is far too
good for them but there are too many people in Ottawa who disagree
with me and other parents who love their kids. For now anyway. No
matter how hard it is for you to do so Mr. Barth, I really want you to
try and understand that children, families, neighbourhoods, and towns
such as Hope have an infinite priority of importance over any rights
that drug dealers and others who commit murder and mayhem may have.

Terry Vickerman

Hope, B.C.