From: [e--lo--r] at [ziggys.cts.com] (Diehl Ahriex)  619/262-6384
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Dear Abby does it again II
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 16:50:03 PDT


< from the San Diego Union-Tribune 22 June 1994 >
<transcribed wholly without permission>


        Creating drug-free society is well beyond our reach

      Dear Abby: May I commend you for your open-minded and courageous
    response to those who have expressed doubts about the war on drugs.
    Millions of Americans now recognize that drug prohibition is respon-
    sible for many, perhaps most, of our drug problems. It is time for 
    the government to respond to the appeals of Surgeon General Joycelyn 
    Elders, former Secretary of State George Shultz, Mayor Kurt Schmoke
    of Baltimore and others who recommend that we re-evaluate our current
    drug policies.
      
      Our choices are not limited to either fighting a war on drugs or 
    legalizing them. There is, in fact, a spectrum of options. We can 
    learn much from Europe and Australia, where governments have turned 
    their backs on the "war on drugs." They began by accepting the ob-
    vious: That it is both futile and dangerous to try to create a drug-
    free society. Focus instead, they insist, on reducing the dangers 
    associated with drug use if people continue to use them.
      
      To stop the spread of AIDS, we must make sure that junkies have 
    access to clean needles; make it easy for addicts to obtain metha-
    done; give heroin maintenance programs a chance to work; decrimi-
    nalize marijuana; stop spending billions on incarcerating drug users
    and drug dealers. We know we can reduce drug abuse more effectively 
    by spending that money on education, pre- and post-natal care and 
    job-training programs.
      
      We must not forget that drug users are citizens in most cases and 
    human beings as well. We can reduce drug abuse in America without 
    creating a climate of fear, hatred and intolerance.
                                -- Ethan Nadelman, Assistant Professor
                                         of Politics and Public Affairs,
                                                    Princeton University 

You may be disappointed if you fail,
   but you are doomed if you don't try!
                        -- Beverly Sills

                                                EXPLORER