Pubdate: Mon, 22 May 2000
Source: Michigan Daily (MI)
Copyright: 2000 The Michigan Daily
Contact:  420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327
Website: http://www.michigandaily.com/
Author: Christopher A. Joseph

To the Daily:

In a recent article on Uncle Sam's push for biological warfare in
Columbia's drug eradication efforts, President Clinton uses the
following logic to justify support for the aid package: "Fifty-two
thousand Americans die every year from drugs."

When one takes into account the number of people who die each year
from legal, non-prescription drugs, why aren't we sending the National
Guard to shut down Anheuser-Busch, Philip Morris, and Proctor & Gamble
just to name a few?

The numbers (look them up yourself) point to a big piece of wool
that's been pulled over our eyes. Why doesn't the press ever bring up
this disparity in numbers, and the faulty logic that keeps this
so-called 'war' machine lubricated with our precious tax dollars?

Legal drugs seem to be a much worse and more widespread problem that
needs of our attention, while our resources are drained by keeping
hundreds of thousands of unnecessary soldiers and their immense
support structure employed in the largest public works scam since
perpetual potholes in our roads.

We're not keeping a finger in the dike of an epidemic, we're making a
mountain out of a mole hill and destroying our constitutional freedoms
in the process.

Christopher A. Joseph,
Parma, Ohio
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