DRUG USERS DO HURT OTHERS

While there is a little truth about the wasting of resources on the "war on
drugs," to relent and give in is a bigger waste ("War on drugs futile and
waste of needed funds," Aug. 15).

The most common excuse given to legalize drug use is that a drug user is
only hurting him/herself. On the surface this seems true, but in the long
run it is not. When ruined by drugs, a person becomes one more life that
our tax dollars will one day be used to house and care for in some mental
ward (after this person cooks his own brain).

Furthermore, if a drug user is a parent, children will likely suffer when a
parent is not there for them, whether because the parent's life comes to
financial ruin or he or she simply is a bad parent (unable to care for and
guide children).

And there are many other ways drug users are not just hurting themselves,
but the rest of us. Drug use can result in the death of others on the
highway, child sexual/physical abuse and low job performance (costing
businesses lots of money). Drug users often commit assaults, murder and
rape. Drug users often trash a neighborhood, bringing property values down.
And drug users can become yet another reason to raise the cost of our
already overpriced medical insurance.

The fact is that drug use hurts everyone. Drug users drain society in the
long run.

Dale Horning; Frederick