Pubdate: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: Leonard Melman WE'RE CONFUSING THE ADDICTS Perhaps it is time to have some pity for the drug community. Just think how their confusion must be mounting because of recent activities by police and political authorities. First, society (wrongly, unjustly and stupidly, in my opinion) declares all drugs including marijuana to be illegal, thereby driving drug users, producers and distributors into a "sub-rosa" situation where all their activities must be hidden from view. Second, society sees the social and medical harm stemming from this situation and spends millions of dollars to establish user-friendly places of business where drug users can find a safe and clean home for their activities -- thereby removing drug use from the filth and unsanitary conditions of the back alley. Third, based on this policy, drug users come out into the open. Fourth, we now learn that special task forces are being put together to combat the open use of drugs, thereby driving users, producers and distributors back into "sub-rosa-land." Somehow, I doubt that lunatics in an asylum could come up with a more muddled, uncertain or just plain dumb course of policies and actions regarding this serious problem faced by society. Leonard Melman, Nanoose Bay. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman