DRUG MYTHS

Next week is Drug Awareness Week in Canada, and that should give
everybody pause for thought as to where we are, and where we are
going in dealing with our major societal scourge.

The subject of drugs is one that is fraught with myth and misinformation.

We see such myths come to the fore with great regularity in articles
and letters to the editor. One myth concerns that great bugbear for
the proponents of legalization; that is, the war on drugs, and its
costs, and its futility, and its invasions of privacy, etc. etc. In
fact, the war on drugs does not exist in Canada, it is an American
concept. Any study of Canadian penalties for illicit drug possession
will show that we do not incarcerate to the degree the U.S. does, and
we are, in fact, more inclined to not jail those charge (sic) with
simple possession of any illicit drug.

The second and possibly more dangerous myth, is the one that tells
people that crazed junkies are around every corner, and that our
young people are all going to hell through their huge cannabis use.

Indeed there are junkies, even in this pleasant community, and there
are the young who avail themselves too readily of the very high-test
marijuana (which bears no resemblance to the very mild stuff of
Woodstock days), and there is crack cocaine, and all the other mind
rotting addictive stuff can also be easily found.

But in the mythology of dope-fiends and such, many people have lost
sight of the drug that is the most easily attained, highly addictive,
and widely-used by our young is booze.

Alcohol is responsible for more societal distress than all the
illicit drugs combined. It leads to more deaths and illnesses by far;
is directly implicated in crime and societal irresponsibility, and
can be acquired with no crime being committed.

When we consider the message of Drug Awareness, we must make
ourselves knowledgeable about the negative impact of all drugs,
including the legal ones like alcohol, and certainly tobacco.