BLOWING SMOKE

Editor,

Re: "Up in smoke," Sept. 26 issue.

If the report by Coun. Fearnley and the drug strategy committee is to be
anything but another concocted instrument for the purpose of justifying the
indefensible, namely that drug abuse is a criminal matter (as opposed to a
health issue), then Fearnley and the committee will certainly have their
hands full.

If not, the idea (that the public needs a clearer understanding of just how
pervasive, and expensive drug and alcohol abuse is ) will not only be
leading astray the focus of the claimed objectives, it will end up serving
as merely another tool as mentioned above. It will certainly not prevent
the cost of such elements like higher insurance premiums, damage incurred
during thefts, health-related issues like HIV and sclerosis of the liver,
court time and police enforcement, from continuing to escalate. It will
simply be another expenditure added to that ever expanding list which
ultimately burdens taxpayers.

Wayne Phillips Hamilton, Ontario