JUST LEGALIZE DRUGS AND SEE BENEFITS

Your editorial "After ecstasy, more bad drugs" (Jan. 5) was
interesting for its content and for what it omitted. The drugs
mentioned have been around for a long time and at the beginning of
the 20th century were readily available and quite legal. Yet, here we are.

Recreational drug use is as old as mankind. Prohibition is not going
to change us or our habits, but it will, and does, fill our prisons.

We do have a choice; we can legalize the sale and control the
distribution of these drugs as we do tobacco and alcohol. This would
enable us to stop pushers, collect taxes and monitor quality.

From the death of a patient in a hospital in Abbotsford, I am now
aware of "hallway health care," and from your newspaper last week I
learned of an elderly female patient who was sexually assaulted by a
male who was sharing her room while under VIHA's care. Our level of
health care, in my experience, rates as comparable to some "less
developed" countries, and the reason given is lack of funding.

And yet, from your newspaper, I learn that the funds are available
for the use of a military helicopter to search for marijuana plants
from the air.

Indeed, there is nothing cool about being a corpse, just as there is
nothing cool about pursuing a policy that exacerbates the present
situation where an outrageous amount of money and effort is spent
with no hope of achieving the stated goals.

Allan Winks

Nanoose Bay