POLICE OFFICER FINDS READER'S OPINION 'MINDBOGGLING'

I am truly disturbed by the letter to the editor that was printed in the
Oct. 16 issue. A woman states that she is saddened by the funds spent in
fighting the war on drugs - that the confiscation of over 250 pounds of
marijuana saddens her.

It is mindboggling to think that there are people in this country who feel
this way.

First of all, I would have to agree that children who have interests in
various types of activities have less tendency to become involved in
illegal activities and or drugs. However, I have been involved with youth
sports in Payson for the past nine years, and being a police officer have
had to deal and even effect arrests, for drugs, on youths that I had
coached in the past. These were youths who had stayed involved in
activities and still fell prey to these things.

Activities, school, community - all of these cannot replace or come close
to being as effective as parents who are involved in the lives of their
children. Not only in support of the activities they choose, but also in
disciplining when it is needed, and by being a living example.

Secondly, you only need to see a few of the destructive things that this
so-called "recreational high" or the "Change in conscious thought" can
result in. You do not need to see too many drug- and alcohol-related
accidents to understand why we need to fight this war. Or to visit a
homicide scene that has been facilitated by the abuse of these substances
that are "used to mask a deep psychological pain."

I hope you never have to talk to the victims, or the families and friends,
who have seen their world torn apart by the effects of the substances that,
in someone's opinion, are only a problem because they are illegal. Let us
not forget how the problems with alcohol have failed to subside and have
even increased with its legalization.

I agree it may be a war that we are struggling to win, but to state that
the funds are not well spent is ludicrous. I constantly urge my four
children to not fall victim to this evil, and pray every night that God
would watch over and guide them away from such a nightmare. I spend
countless hours talking with them and sharing with them what I experience
every day as a police officer. I do this in the hope that they will be
strengthened by the truth about drugs, and will be able to resist the
offers that will no doubt come to them. Even still I fear for them, growing
up in a world with people who think this way.

The comment made about legalization is only an act of giving in and giving
up. Americans do not give up.

The war on drugs is just as important as the war on terrorism, because it
is terrorism of the worst kind. Drugs steal our children's identities,
destroy our families, eat away at our Nation's strength, and kill.

Lets not give up, ever, for our children's sake, for America's sake, for
God's sake.