Pubdate: Thu, 04 Jul 2002 Source: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand) Copyright: Allied Press Limited, 2003 Contact: http://www2.odt.co.nz Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/925 Author: Joseph Morahan Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) DRUGS AND VIOLENCE The most vicious legal penalties you can dream up wouldn't have saved a single life when Ese Junior Faleali went looking for cash. I think it's about time we stopped blaming drugs for addiction and its problems. Even if all addictive drugs were to vanish overnight, people would still find things to get addicted to. Gambling, violence, overwork, sport and, worst of all, starvation. They all harm the addict and his family. Anorexia, even when treated has about a 25% death rate. It is much higher untreated. So it's really bad, but you can imagine how stupid it would be to try to deal with it by making it illegal! Let's be sensible though. Let's start with cannabis and see what happens. If that's OK then try some of the others. For those folks at Norml, I can prove that cannabis isn't addictive: just change your definition of addiction so that it doesn't include cannabis. Addictions can only be dealt with by persuading people to deal with their problems, not by making things illegal. Joseph Morahan