U.S. A BAD DRUG MODEL

Editor, The News:

Tom Fletcher did readers of the Maple Ridge News a disservice by quoting
U.S. drug czar John Walters. The United States offers Canada tragic
examples of anti-drug strategies that are best avoided. U.S. Centers for
Disease Control researchers estimate that 57% of AIDS cases among women and
36% of overall AIDS cases in the U.S. are linked to injection drug use or
sex with partners who inject drugs. This easily preventable public health
crisis is a direct result of zero tolerance laws that restrict access to
clean syringes. Can Canada afford to emulate the harm maximization policies
of the U.S.?

According to John Walters more Americans are in treatment for marijuana
than alcohol. He is deliberately misrepresenting government data in an
effort to justify the war on some drugs. Record numbers of Americans
arrested for marijuana possession have been forced into treatment by the
criminal justice system. The resulting distortion of treatment statistics
is then used to make the claim that marijuana is "addictive."

Zero tolerance drug laws do not distinguish between occasional use and
chronic abuse. The coercion of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis
into taxpayer-funded treatment centres says a lot about U.S. government
priorities, but absolutely nothing about marijuana.

Robert Sharpe, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, DC USA