4 horsemen of drug apocalyse at it again -- not satisfied with first disaster

(This letter appeared in the Letter section of a newspaper):
National Post · Dec. 21, 2011
The former mayors of Vancouver advocating for decriminalizing the gateway drug cannabis is ludicrous. It was largely because of their permissiveness and leniency that Vancouver's Downtown Eastside turned into the nightmare that it is today. Continuing down this path would be asinine.

Seattle, a city comparable in weather and socio-economic climate, does not have the same problem with open drug use simply because it is not tolerated. New York cleaned up its decaying core in the 1980s by cracking down on drug use, not by some hare-brained scheme of decriminalization.

The constant reference to "the war on drugs" is also getting tiresome. The struggle to keep drugs off the streets is more like a constant battle, similar to those society wages with any other illegal, undesirable activity.

Jeffrey Hay, Ladner, B.C.
http://www.nationalpost.com/Keep+drugs+going/5890195/story.html