MP RANDY WHITE LINKED TO CULT?

Editor, The Star, Sir,

The opinions expressed by MP Randy White in your article of December
5, 2002 ("White says Canada's drug treatment strategy headed down
wrong road") are contrary to much of what medicine has learned about
drug addiction in recent years.

However, his constituents may be more disturbed by the particular
brand of "drug treatment" he is promoting. "Narconon", the program
touted by White as allegedly so successful in a Mexican prison, is in
fact a branch of the Church of Scientology - a cult long known for its
paranoid campaigns against dissident members and critics.

PETER VANDERKLOOT,
New York