cannabisnews.com: Honesty Is The Best Drug





Honesty Is The Best Drug
Posted by FoM on November 29, 1999 at 12:00:43 PT
By Stephen Young 
Source: USA Today
The letter about being ''honest'' with children about drug use was a great expression of common sense (''Be honest with children about past 'pot' experience,'' Nov. 22).Lying always has been considered immoral; there's even a commandment against it. Why then should marijuana be an exception? 
The truth did not seem as highly valued in the same edition's letter on '' 'Irresponsible' commentary.'' By suggesting it is appropriate to lie to our children, the author clearly expressed his own lack of honesty with himself. Will thinking and saying enough bad things about marijuana make it go away? All of our past experience indicates that it will not.Thanks to USA TODAY letter's page for placing these two perspectives side by side. When compared, they illustrate an early moral lesson I hope will be learned by children: Honesty is the best policy.Stephen Young Roselle, Ill. War On Drugs Is Really A War Against Sanity I feel bad for Robert W. DeStefano, whose letter stated that as ''someone who suffers from an addictive illness,'' he has seen many people ruin their lives (''Ignorance about addiction,'' Nov. 22).His negative reaction to the idea of legalizing pot and other drugs stems from his own personal nightmare. For most of us, this is not reality. Pot has not ruined our lives, nor the lives of our friends. But for many addicts, this is all they can see. And many addicts cling to the prohibitionist delusion, because they are as addicted to power as they were to drugs.Rationally considered, the war on drugs is a war against sanity. It corrupts our police and political system with bribes. It shreds the Bill of Rights while creating inner cities full of black-market gang warfare. Kids are actually born into these gang zones and -- facing their own kill-or-be-killed reality -- become gang members willing to kill people for their tennis shoes.Legalizing drugs will end this nightmare for most of us.Sadly, for people like letter writer DeStefano who cannot see the difference between his suffering and ''someone suffering from diabetes or cancer,'' the nightmare is internal, eternal and a grim and potent reminder to the rest of us how not to act with drugs -- legal or not.Dan Litwin San Diego, Calif. Published: November 29, 1999© Copyright 1999 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.Related Article:What Should You Tell Your Kids About Your Drug Use-11/17/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3704.shtml
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