Editor:
John Weston's latest propaganda rag appearing in my mailbox (at our expense!) wants to know what I think, but the space allotted for comments is woefully inadequate -barely room for 30 words, much less 300. Hopefully he'll find out what I think by reading this newspaper.
His latest flagship, National Prescription Drop-Off Day, insults the intelligence of Canadians by suggesting that so many adults are incapable of taking proper care of their drugs that their ineptitude requires government intervention. And a National Homeopathic Medicine Day might, perhaps, offer a more sensible solution to whatever problems actually exist in this regard.
The notion that his 2009 Bill C-475 "clamps down" on the manufacture of crystal meth is of course ludicrous, since the major manufacturers aren't buying their supplies from their local drug stores.
In the meantime, Weston has said less than nothing -as far as I know -about teenage homelessness, the major precursor to crystal meth addiction. And while he's busy wringing his hands over careless prescription drug users and the "evil drug" crystal meth, he blithely ignores a much bigger problem -the massive increase in the prescription of Ritalin and other drugs for children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder.
According to Gabor Maté, "the increased use of Ritalin has paralleled reductions in the number of special education teachers, psychologists and social workers in the educational system -results of the cutbacks in funding that throughout North America are considered to be among the duties of 'responsible governments.'"
So much for Weston's Recovery Day for a Drug-Free Canada, a slap in the face of every parent bemoaning the loss or reduction of those critical services.
Will Weston ever abandon his pointless bills, proclamations and national days in favour of effective policies? Your guess is as good as mine.
George Kosinski, Gibsons
