Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 Source: Quesnel Cariboo Observer (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 Quesnel Cariboo Observer Contact: http://www.quesnelobserver.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1260 Author: Chris Buors LEAVE DRUG USERS ALONE Has John Goodman never heard the parable of The Fall? The moral of the story is the forbidden fruit always tastes sweeter. Further, the serpent is the truth-teller and emerges from the garden a lot more powerful than when he got there. The Supreme Authority punishes the tempted and not the tempter in the parable. The government has also lied to us for our own good and plagued our society with a never-ending parade of demon drug temptations for the last 100 years. The regimentation of Canadians against periodic table substances served up scapegoats, but did not solve any social problems. Perhaps Mr. Goodman skipped school the day the failed American noble experiment with alcohol prohibition was discussed. There were no virtues when coercive force was applied to prevent the lustful from engaging in gluttony then and the same prohibition laws do not prevent the exuberance of youth from tasting whatever forbidden fruits now. Any farmer could brew alcohol and the youth merely dipped their flasks in the old man's gin tub. The Salvation Army report noted they went from dealing with drunks in the gutter to dealing with drunks in the school yard. Then there was the horrific poisoning that blinded and killed with bootleg booze. Anybody who can read on the Internet can become a crystal meth cook. Crystal meth has no problems associated with it when it is sold as desoxyn at the pharmacy. There will be fewer children harmed if they have access to drugs of a known purity. The pharmacist will be able to mete out professional advice on safe use. Mr. Goodman needs to consider the police have a vested interest in maintaining drug prohibition. The police are experts on policing. They have no special insight on social problems or economics. Anthropologists and pharmacologists are the people we need to hear from. Addicts are the medicalized version of lustful gluttons humanity has considerable experience dealing with. Lustful gluttons need to satisfy that lust or die trying. Only they can control themselves and they do that when they decide they are darn good and ready. Free will exists and addiction is a myth that finds receptive ears in a society conditioned to believe in demonic possessions. Drugs have no supernatural powers of allurement. Drugs are inert and people have all the moral turpitudes. Crack cocaine would cost the same as coffee pound for pound on the free market. A lustful glutton could steal something cheap or bum $5 and buy a kilo of it. How much less crime would they have to resort to to get their fill? Turn that $1,000-a-day habit into a $5-a-day habit. A couple of ounces is all the worst of gluttons could use. It is Mr. Goodman who needs to reconsider his support for prohibition because his moral compass is askew. We have a natural right to self-medicate. We have owned that right since time began. No man would have the right to take away the medicine another free man was using for whatever reason. How is it we confer a power to the state that we do not ourselves have? Temperance, prudence, justice and fortitude are the four cardinal virtues. Drug prohibition has never lived up to a single one of them. Wanting your drug free utopia so badly that you would willingly harm another person by meting out a criminal record is vain glory defined. Now that every draconian nonsensical ploy to save people from themselves has been exhausted, perhaps we can try liberty. Leave the drug users alone. That's the policy that worked for every other scapegoat humanity has ever had. Chris Buors Winnipeg, Manitoba - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom