DRUG SPEAK

Following the Iraq war, I'm reminded of a paper I had to write back in
college about the war on drugs. After much research I discovered that the
war was actually started by ultraconservative religious zealots around the
turn of the century.

Their weapons were fear-based rhetoric, using language such as "killer
weed," "demon this" and "evil that." Sociologist have since termed this
"drug speak," and it is very effective. Proof is the fact that alcohol is
the No. 1 drug-related health risk in America and is thought of very much
differently from other mood-altering chemicals (the rest are evil).

Now we have the fear-based "axis of evil," evil dictators, weapons of mass
destruction, and "liberating forces," not invading forces. I'm not fooled
like the 40 percent of Americans who believe that Iraq was connected to 9-
11, and I'm not scared of terrorists because I know that I'm thousands of
times more likely to be killed in a car accident.

Gary Jones

Bountiful