METHAMPHETAMINE USE RISES IN THE AREA, SEP. 25.

Dear Editor,

I see that prohibition is working as well as it always has. Nearly all
the harm done to users and non-users alike by illegal drugs is because
the drugs are prohibited. Thousands were poisoned by adulterated booze
during Prohibition and thousands more are dying today because of
adulterated drugs, an aspect of government policy my wife and I became
well acquainted with when our 19-year-old son, Peter, died shortly after
ingesting some street heroin in 1993. Drug prohibition encourages crime
too, as was shown when Al Capone rose to power after alcohol was banned.
Let us never forget also that drug prohibition is racist in origin. It
began almost a century ago when the drugs used by certain non-white
minorities (blacks, Chinese, Mexicans) were banned ostensibly to protect
virtuous, white, Christian women from being seduced by these minorities.

Today, the police are happy to make use of this racist legislation to
control and harass those whose lifestyle and/or skin colour offends
them. The best way to reduce the harm and heartbreak of illegal drugs is
to end drug prohibition. Let's legalize all drugs, remove the propaganda
and the police from the equation and have the drugs manufactured by
knowledgeable, competent organizations who will supply cheap, quality
tested drugs of known purity and potency and who, in order to avoid
legal liability, will impart factual drug information to us and our
children.

Alan Randell

Victoria, British Columbia,

Canada