UGLIEST ASPECT OF DRUG WAR IS CONTROL OF THE DEBATE

Jerome Kellner (Letters, Feb. 1) is wrong to chastise the editors for
allowing dissenting views on drug issues to be published. The medicalization
of drugs accomplished by the Harrison Drug Medicalization Act of 1914 has
been a disaster for Americans.

The ugliest aspect of drug control is the control of the debate. Just
because Robert Sharpe of the Drug Policy Alliance advocates a medical or
"harm reduction" policy (Letters, Jan. 22), that does not mean he advocates
drug use. It means he thinks the medical model is superior to the criminal
model of drug control.

Personally, I believe Robert Sharpe and the billionaires who finance the
Drug Policy Alliance -- George Soros, John Sterling and Peter Lewis -- are
wrong. Drug use is a vice, not a crime or a medical disorder.

Let us begin with the "problem." People like to ingest various substances.
People like to prohibit individuals from ingesting what they want to ingest.
Depending on time or place, the prohibited substance may be pork, alcohol,
cigarette smoke, marijuana, Valium or penicillin.

Drug use must be demedicalized in order to start dealing with the truth.
Ceremonial drug use is as old as humanity is itself. It is none of the
government's business what ideas we put into our heads or what substances we
put into our bodies.

Chris Buors

Winnipeg, Manitoba