DRUGS: PROPAGANDA DISGUISED AS NEWS

Dear Editor,

Here we go again: another load of propaganda served up by the media to
shore up public support for drug prohibition [Dark Alley operation busted,
June 4, Langley Advance News].

It's propaganda because, as usual, you allow no input from those of us who
oppose these ridiculous laws.

Why do governments ban certain drugs? It can't be to protect users, because
banning a drug always leads to more deaths amongst users, because of
adulterated drugs. My wife and I became well-acquainted with that aspect of
government policy when we lost our 19-year-old son to street heroin in 1993.

The harm argument is irrelevant in any event, because two of our more
harmful drugs, alcohol and tobacco, are legal.

It can't be to reduce the crime associated with drugs, because banning a
drug always gives rise to more crime than when the drug is legally available.

So what else could it be, other than to distract attention away from more
important issues by conducting a brutal pogrom, first to ostracize and then
to destroy the innocent few who ingest or sell certain drugs?

How did the politicians win our approval, or at least our acceptance, of
such a manifestly evil crusade? Because the media support it.

First, you immerse us in a torrent of "objective" accounts of the mayhem
without allowing your readers to hear the voices of the victims or of those
like me who oppose these laws. Gradually we are persuaded that "they only
have themselves to blame."

Second, you never miss an opportunity to allow those who profit from the
drug laws - cops, drug experts, prosecutors, politicians - to tell their
stories, while allowing only the occasional letter from those who oppose
the law.

Why do the media support a brutal government pogrom like our drug laws? I
can only surmise that tragedy, suffering, and war sell more newspapers and
lead to higher TV ratings than happiness, contentment and peace.

Abraham Lincoln was wrong. You don't have to fool all the people all the
time in order to oppress the people. All that is required is for the
majority to be fooled all the time, and sadly, that task is child's play,
once you have the media behind you.

Alan Randell, Victoria