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The Stanislaus County Insider
Property of StancoInsider, all rights reserved.
Before one throws the "drug czar" out with the bath water ("The drug czar should go," Commentary, Feb. 8) he should look closely at the critics.
Teenagers who laugh at the anti-drug ads are probably part of the 33 percent of high school dropouts who will cost the nation $470 billion a year as they burden public health and welfare, turn to crime because they can't sustain employment, fill our prisons and contribute to the 3,200 monthly drug-overdose deaths.
More teens smoke pot than tobacco in many places because of the hoax perpetuated on society by legalization proponents that marijuana is a medicine and legal in some states. Both pot and tobacco lead to an early grave and a rocky road getting there. However, pot is also an intoxicant and can cause irreversible damage to an adolescent brain. Because of adverse impacts on memory, motivation, maturation and productivity, it caps young people's potential before adulthood.
Because today's pot is 10 percent to 20 percent stronger than in the "flower power" days of the 1970s, it is a factor in 26.9 percent of accidents with injuries and sends more than 100,000 people a year to the emergency room. That's about the same as cocaine.
Because of the Office of National Drug Control Policy past and present, drug use actually has decreased. If the office has a shortcoming, it is its failure to focus on prevention and to stop the corruptive monetary influence that drives legalization efforts, with George Soros at the helm.
ROGER MORGAN
Chairman and Executive Director:
Coalition for a Drug-Free California.
Lincoln, CA.