Letters to the Editor

For Wednesday, December 12, 2012

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 12, 2012

~~Educate, don't criminalize
Your front-page story on synthetic drugs was full of ironies <a href="http://www.staradvertiser.com/newspremium/20121209_Drug_dealers_swiftly_skirt__states_laws.html" style="color: #0000FF;">("Drug dealers swiftly skirt state's laws," Star-Advertiser, Dec. 9)</a>. Our new law prohibiting such drugs may be "proactive," but even those involved in its enforcement agree that you can't keep up with criminals who easily change chemical formulas to skirt any law. These same officials, as well as the physicians like Sen. Josh Green who are quoted, admit that these synthetics — most of which are intended to mimic marijuana — are far more harmful than the real thing.
~~

Educate, don't criminalize

Your front-page story on synthetic drugs was full of ironies ("Drug dealers swiftly skirt state's laws," Star-Advertiser, Dec. 9). Our new law prohibiting such drugs may be "proactive," but even those involved in its enforcement agree that you can't keep up with criminals who easily change chemical formulas to skirt any law. These same officials, as well as the physicians like Sen. Josh Green who are quoted, admit that these synthetics — most of which are intended to mimic marijuana — are far more harmful than the real thing. Login for more...