LOVING DRUGS

Dear Editor:

Re: Pot growers setting traps, June 2 edition.

Enough of this simple-minded prohibitionist propaganda deploring problems
caused by drug prohibition please. Your readers deserve better.

Let's get a few things straight about drugs.

1. No government has the right to punish anyone for ingesting anything,
however harmful.

2. The consequences of prohibition are far more harmful than anything
preceding it: More user deaths because of adulterated drugs, much more
crime, explosions and fires in illegal drug labs, electricity thefts,
accelerated spread of infectious diseases, skyrocketing law enforcement
costs, police corruption, disrespect for the law, easier access for
children (because drugs are often sold at school by classmates), more
difficult for parents and children to communicate honestly about drugs,
etc., etc.

3. Even if governments did have the right to ban harmful drugs, banning
marijuana, heroin, etc., still makes no sense whatsoever because two of our
more harmful recreational drugs, alcohol and tobacco are not banned and
marijuana is banned even though it is less harmful than either.

So if drugs aren't banned because they're harmful, why do we ban them?
That's easy. It is to entertain the majority by ruining the lives of the
minority.

Alan Randell

Victoria, B.C.