Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 Source: Merritt Herald (CN BC) Copyright: 2001 Merritt Herald Contact: http://www.merrittherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1446 Author: Alan Randell DON'T WASTE SCHOOL TIME ON DARE Re: No alternatives DARE'd, June 20 If it's the parents who are failing to inform their children about drugs, why not have the police give seminars to the parents rather than wasting a portion of the school day having police officers speak to the kids? Sometimes I think the government harbours a secret desire to take over all aspects of our children's lives and restrict the parents' access to their kids to visiting days at the local child indoctrination centre. Whether before a class of children or adults, I hope the police representative provides answers to questions such as these: 1. The 1973 Le Dain Commission concluded, "There appears to be little permanent physiological damage from chronic use of pure opiate narcotics." Why, then, is heroin prohibited? 2. Why are some drugs prohibited while others every bit as dangerous are allowed? 3. How can the demand for certain drugs be forcibly suppressed without resorting to the establishment of a police state? 4. If prohibition is so great, why did the United States end the prohibition of alcohol? 5. We're told the government doesn't have the right to tell us what we may or may not read. Where is it written in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms the government has the right to tell us what we may or may not eat? Alan Randell Victoria, B.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth