Pubdate: Sat, 08 Apr 2006 Source: Robson Valley Times (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 Miro International Pty Ltd. Contact: http://www.robsonvalleytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4087 Author: Andru McCracken I HAVE A DRUG PROBLEM AND SO DO YOU It's true. I don't take drugs, I don't smoke, snort, sniff, inject or swill contraband, but in spite of all that, I have a drug problem. Drugs are in my community. They are in Valemount and they are in McBride. Last week in Valemount a man fired bullets into a mobile home in Hartman Trailer Court. We probably have drugs to thank that he never hit anybody, but it's not a stretch to assume that drugs were the motivation for the shooting. Some innocent could have been killed. It's always been my attitude not to pry into other people's lives. As far as I'm concerned, adults are allowed to carve out their own little piece of hell on earth. It's only when their idiocy affects children, the community and the greater public good, we ought to take a stand. What I can't understand is why we give drug dealers a livelihood? Why should society pay to make these sleaze bags rich? The war on drugs in the valley has to have two fronts. The first and most important front is a collaborative push for alternatives to addictions and escapism. The valley needs to come together to help keep kids off drugs. Secondly, we need to consider legalizing some of this stuff. As long as police are there to enforce drug law, dealers will always find a way to make money. The war on drugs cannot be won. What is the good of it? Legal or not, we've got work to do I showed up at Cranberry Lake one summery afternoon last year and noticed that the 13 year-olds had their own cooler. Who is bootlegging for these kids? We live in one of the nicest places on the planet. It's a shame that the best we can do is to teach these kids to escape it. Do we really have to have 15 year old kids at the bush parties? Is it really necessary for everyone from Susie, the ninth grader, to shifty Uncle Willy, the 53-year-old vagrant, to be there? Of all the things you have to offer to the youth of today, sage advice, stories of yesterday, how to hit a bull's eye at 10 yards with an axe; don't bother showing kids how to shotgun a Budweiser in 8 seconds or how to turn a Coke can into a crack pipe. Given the state of things, they'll learn that soon enough on their own. - --- MAP posted-by: Lawrence Seguin