QUESTIONS FOR COLUMNIST

Editor:

Re: "Growing pot costs taxpayers," Nov. 15

A few questions for your self-styled drug expert, Bill McCarthy:

1. What evidence can you bring forward to support your contention that all
users of illegal drugs are unemployed?

2. What evidence can you bring forward to demonstrate that illegal drugs
are more harmful than the legal drugs of alcohol and tobacco? Hint: The
1973 Le Dain Commission concluded, "There appears to be little permanent
physiological damage from chronic use of pure opiate narcotics."

3. What did the prohibition of alcohol teach us about the efficacy of
prohibiting a popular product? Hint 1: How did Al Capone become such a
powerful figure? Hint 2: Did forcing drinkers to obtain their booze from
the black market result in more drinkers dying or fewer?

Alan Randell,
Victoria, BC