MEDIA SUPPORTS ANTI-DRUG 'POGROM'

Dear Editor,

Re. "Man sentenced for pot cultivation" (Question, Oct. 3).

Here we go again. Another example of how the media supports the state in
its attempt to punish an innocent minority, those who use or sell certain
drugs.

First things first. Why do governments ban certain drugs?

It can't be to protect users because banning a drug always leads to more
deaths among users, not fewer. My wife and I became well acquainted with
that aspect of government policy when we lost our 19-year-old son to street
heroin in 1993. The harm argument is irrelevant in any event because two of
our more harmful drugs, alcohol and tobacco, are legal.

It can't be to reduce the crime associated with drugs because banning a
drug always gives rise to more crime than when the drug is legally available.

So what else could it be other than a program to distract attention away
from more important issues by conducting a brutal pogrom, first to
ostracize and then to destroy the innocent few who ingest or sell certain
drugs , with the additional "benefit" of allowing our politicians and cops,
along with their media sycophants, the pleasure of strutting and swaggering
before us as they promise to ride out like St. George and slay the fearsome
and deadly dragon of drugs while sticking the taxpayer with the cost? How
did the politicians win our approval, or at least our acceptance, of such a
manifestly evil crusade? The media, in two ways. First, you immerse us in a
torrent of "objective" accounts of the mayhem without allowing the victims'
stories to be told or the comments from those who oppose these laws.
Gradually we are persuaded "they only have themselves to blame." We shrug
and turn the page. This particular item is just one example among many of
propaganda masquerading as news.

Second, you never miss an opportunity to allow those who profit from the
drug laws (cops, drug experts, prosecutors, politicians) to tell their
stories while allowing only the occasional letter from those who oppose the
law.

As to why do the media support a brutal government pogrom like our drug
laws, I can only surmise that tragedy, suffering and war sell more
newspapers and lead to higher TV ratings than happiness, contentment and peace.

Abraham Lincoln was wrong. You don't have to fool all the people all the
time in order to have unjust laws. All that is required is for the majority
to be fooled all the time, and that task is child's play once you have the
media behind you.

Alan and Eleanor Randell Victoria