Pubdate: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN) Copyright: 2011 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. Contact: http://www.knoxnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/226 Author: Robert Crehore DRUG OVERDOSING AN AMERICAN RIGHT Oh, the perils of this dark and twisted age! I thought the baby boomers were the lost generation, but their children's generation is the worst yet. They're not only into drugs, they concoct and peddle them, giggling all the while to equally enlightened Generation X'ers. That's tragic, of course, but it's not Gen-X's fault. It's my fault. It is. I helped elect the people who came up with the War on Drugs and who now spend tons of taxpayer money trying to stop illegal drugs from entering the country. I have to ask myself, and now you, why? Didn't anyone in the District of Columbia (learn) anything from the 18th and 21st amendments -- prohibition and the repeal of prohibition? We treated Carry Nation and her war on booze as a joke, the antics of a slightly deranged woman with an axe and a bunch of reporters gleefully following. The lesson most of us got from that was Congress really doesn't understand that Americans don't take instruction like, "that's forbidden!" Very well. Never have, probably never will, either. We are no longer Europeans. We have never had to live under the yoke of a dictator so we don't behave well. Our children reflect us. Now, might I suggest we stop this War on Drugs nonsense altogether? People in this country are going to do what they want to do, regardless of Congress. The right or wrong of a situation or condition doesn't matter all that much, because everyone's entitled to their opinion; and to me, the War on Drugs might be OK if people want it, but otherwise, it's nonsense. Make all the illegal stuff legal as rain and let happen what happens. Kids will either overdose on drugs and will either survive, learning from it, or they won't. It's their right as Americans. Robert Crehore Knoxville - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake