EASING ADDICTS' FEAR

Re "City's drug strategy is dopey" (Editorial, Dec. 5): No doubt
Toronto councillors have good reason for not emphasizing enforcement
in their drug strategy for the city. Law enforcement and
rehabilitation are mutually exclusive. Would alcoholics seek help for
their illness if doing so were tantamount to confessing to criminal
activity? Likewise, would putting every incorrigible alcoholic behind
bars and saddling them with criminal records prove cost-effective?
Driving illicit drug addiction underground is counterproductive and
only compounds the problem.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.

(It's the dealers the cops are after, not the addicts)