Pubdate: Mon, 26 Nov 2012
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2012 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgi
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Colleen McCool
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n606/a07.html

DRUG WAR NOT WORTH IT

Re: "Young pawns in the drug war -- Police are enlisting youthful 
offenders for work that's risky, unregulated and sometimes deadly, 
says Sarah Stillman," Sunday Points.

Thank you, Sarah Stillman and The Dallas Morning News, for publishing 
this commentary on current insane, violence-promoting drug-war 
tactics. It is morally bankrupt to punish nonviolent adults for 
making a safer health choice, cannabis or marijuana, compared to 
other medicinal or social drugs. Young nonviolent informants' deaths 
and other triggered violence from drug prohibition across the nation 
are an outrage that can no longer be tolerated.

The tobacco, alcohol and prescription drug gangs cause more death 
annually than all illicit drugs. Less than 1 percent of us are 
actually addicted to anything illegal. Imprisonment costs seven times 
more than treatment. Prisons propagate crime, violence and sexual 
deviance. Putting nonviolent offenders in this breeding ground is 
madness. Show fiscal responsibility, demand morally correct policy.

Violent predators roam free, rape kits go unprocessed, schools go 
underfunded and roads need repair -- all while our precious resources 
are depleted chasing nonviolent drug users.

Colleen McCool, Stephenville
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom