Pubdate: Fri, 04 May 2012
Source: Coast Reporter (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Coast Reporter
Contact:  http://www.coastreporter.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/580
Page: 23
Author: Judith Renaud
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n246/a09.html?1182

PROHIBITION VERSUS REGULATION

Editor:

Re: Odd Squad (Cocaine new drug of choice for Coast youth, Coast 
Reporter, April 27).

It is easy to see that health and evidenced-based drug education will 
not be able to deliver nearly as much benefit as it could unless law 
enforcement gets out of the way. This necessary change depends not on 
law enforcers but on lawmakers.

Law enforcers take a binding oath to enforce the laws that are laid 
down by legislators, and so it is those legislators who must change 
the drug laws so that the duties of law enforcers no longer conflict 
with effective public health and evidenced based drug education.

Generally, such programs are not designed to educate at all; they are 
designed to 'send a message.' Students we have interviewed over the 
past 10 years see from their own observations that 'messages about 
drugs' often bring extreme exaggeration, it is prohibition, not drugs 
that cause most of the destruction and so students tend to ignore the 
'message' entirely.

Judith Renaud

Gibsons
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart