RE “DAs fret at lapses found at drug lab” (Metro, Sept. 6): So, now the state, already under financial pressure and beset by inadequate funds for public education, infrastructure repair, and myriad other urgent public needs, is going to have to finance the re-examination of some 50,000 drug samples in an estimated 34,000 drug prosecutions.
It is too easy to blame the problem simply on one chemist gone bad. The whole ill-considered drug war has long been a nightmare not only for budgets, but for liberty and honesty as well.
Comments
I don't know what the answer is to the drug problem, but I agree that the current "war on drugs" is terribly expense, and even worse, ineffective. Drugs are as easily obtained today as they were 30 years ago. I'm not sure we want certain dangerous drugs such as cocaine and heroin freely distributed on our streets, but we seriously need new ideas.
As long as tobacco (an extremely addictive drug with zero medicinal benefits and a proven health hazard to those nearby during usage) remains legal, there is no reason why a thinking, rational person should take the war on drugs seriously. As long as political concerns override common sense, this war is doomed to fail.