Re: The war on drugs has become a war against us, March 23
Columnist Peter McKnight's assertion that drug prohibition is doomed to failure may or may not be correct.
Unfortunately, he neglects to consider a major factor that gets lost in the all-or-nothing debate over legalization.
That factor is prevention.
For less than $2 per student, education ministry-approved curriculum could provide evidence-based preventive drug education in B.C. classrooms. Vancouver's Insite program spends about $540 per client so addicts can have a safe injection site.
Yet to provide all 350,000 B.C. students in Grades 4 to 10 with seven years of preventive education could cost less than $600,000. Insite's yearly budget is nearly $3 million.
Treatment of existing problems is essential, but it might be wise to steer more resources toward the future. Education can work, as it has for tobacco, and the price is minuscule compared to the cost of a failed "war on drugs," or one against users we'll never wage.
Jay Niver - Communications/Marketing Director,
Alcohol-Drug Education Service, Port Coquitlam
