Time to rethink the war on drugs

[Mark Stapleton]

I fully agree, Sid.

It always amuses me when shockjocks and journalists in the populist media scream about the evil of drugs. I hope they never get drunk because that would make them awful hypocrites---my consciousness altering substance is fine but yours is evil. That line is absurd regardless of the current legal status of any drug. The oft repeated theme that drugs like cannabis, heroin and cocaine etc are dangerous and thus deserve their illegal status is equally absurd because alcohol tops all the lists as the major killer and cause of crime. It has only one rival when it comes to causing damage to society and that is the havoc caused by prohibition itself.

Some of these talking tabloid heads behave as if they don't know the difference between a crime and a vice. Of course, their livelihoods depend on maintaining this ignorance.