Pubdate: Wed, 12 Feb 2014
Source: Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
Copyright: 2014 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/about/feedback/
Website: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/339
Author: Elizabeth Oberley

READERS AGREE ON 'SELFISH' HOFFMAN

It's an unpopular opinion that I share with you. As a junior in high 
school, my exposure to druggies is limited, but growing every day as 
I learn of the things my peers do behind locked doors. At our prom 
last year, three of the top 10 seniors were kicked out the week 
before graduation for coming to the dance high on cocaine. Many of my 
other fellow students rationalize their abundant pot smoking by the 
fact that "it's all natural" and "nonaddictive" and "not a big deal."

Being a girl that was raised in a Navy family with three brothers, 
one thing was hammered into our heads early on: drugs and alcohol are 
bad. When we got older, sex was added onto the list. The idea that 
someone can abuse something as serious as heroin is sickening, and I 
feel no pity for users who allow themselves to sink into an abyss 
that they claim they can not come out of.

I agree 100 percent with your statement that "the human spirit is 
strong, not neutered, and we have within us the ability to stare 
morality and destiny down." We humans are stronger than the highs we 
create for ourselves, and anyone who refuses to believe that has no 
confidence in the things we are able to achieve.

Elizabeth Oberley Virginia Beach, Va.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom