Letter: A modest proposal…

A sure sign that the rapture is near is when I find some occasional common ground with Fabulous Fred. More likely is that I am losing my rather tenuous grip on sanity. In his Killer Weed commentary I found some spotty agreement which is generally cause for rethinking my position. In discussions of drugs, I paint with a broad brush by including alcohol and nicotine in the genre.

I believe it is true that casual and infrequent use of marijuana is not a significant health risk for the two people in the world that are causal and infrequent users. The problem is that none of my junkie friends ever saved anything for later and smoke all they could get their hands on as quickly as they could. So the casual user concept is moot, and there are a fair number of lung and other health issues as well as societal problems associated with chronic use. They will spend every cent they can earn, beg, borrow, or steal on the drug to the exclusion of bathing, shaving, washing clothes, rent, or dental bills, which suggests it is not an innocuous recreational drug. In truth, there are no innocuous drugs.

Prohibition should have shown us what happens when Congress creates a situation where really bad people get really rich and powerful (comments on Congress will come at a later date). I do not think that there are any easy solutions to our drug use. The current system of largely unsuccessful attempts at interdiction have created a situation where the profits of transport and delivery of drugs are so large that there are ten people fighting to take the place of every one that was caught. Only Kamikaze pilots and suicide bombers are harder to control.

I do want to suggest a simple idea for changing the status quo. Simple does not mean easy, just uncomplicated. We, as a nation, should put the problems associated with using drugs back on the user. Receiving public assistance at any level will require passing random and frequent drug tests. Not just for Mom, but for the whole family. One fails and they all fail. Hopefully a good buzz will not be worth being cold, hungry, and living under a bridge. Junkies are always getting hurt and are the trial bars’ best repeat customers. So if you get drunk, drive, and hit a tree, you can no longer blame the tree or its owner. Prove up clean and sober at the hospital or “Torts ‘R’ Us” is out of luck. Plus, ERs will no longer be forced to give free care to overloaded junkies. Too harsh? What we are doing now is not working and the floor is open for suggestions because there is a problem and it is not going to cure itself.

Richard Sheppard, DDS, Clarendon