THE PUBLIC MIND: READER BELIEVES NEWSPAPER LACK OBJECTIVITY IN ITS REPORTING ON DRUG-RELATED ISSUES

To the Editor:

I would like the opportunity to respond to the editor's note that followed the "Be Our Guest"~ contributed Feb. 15 regarding "zero tolerance".

I would like to allay the concerns Mr. Newton obviously has about my sources for the piece~. As I stated in the essay, High Times is a reputable magazine. It is distributed internationally, has a circulation of over 100,000 and has hired top-notch Ivy League editors. By most standa~rds, High Times would be considered reputable. I also mentioned to Newton, on the phone, that the general information about grand juries came ~from a book. It is "Free the Animals" by Ingrid Newkirk, about the group called Animal Liberation Front. Some might call this "radical dogma~," but Ingrid did use reliable sources in her research. One further note about sources the information about Michigan grand jury procedures and sentencing guidelines~~ originally appeared in The Detroit Free Press.

I do recognize and applaud that the Southeast Missouria~~n pointed out that drug use crosses racial barriers. This sentiment is rarely explored any further than this, however. The racial makeup of the defendants in the Goo~d Hope sweep really has little to do with the issue of law enforcement bias in general. I have to commend the paper on its coverage of the indictment of Mr. Downs, Cape attorney. ~But certainly more could and should be done to insure objec~tivity in your reporting on drugs.

It is interesting that the Southeast~~~ Miss~o~urian could not simply print my piece and let it stand alone, without adding a defensive and derisive footnote. In doing this, they show little faith in the average citizen's ability to reason for themselves. They also display poor journalistic objectivity and integrity. The sharp eye might have noticed that mine was the only ~Be our Guest in recent memory to receive an Editor's note. A similarly critical Speak Out got the same admonishing from Mr. Newton. I am not an uninformed zealot. I have been researching and taking an active part in drug issues and concerns for several years. I did not just wake up one morning and decide to write about something which I know nothing about. Fortu~nat~ely, ~the Southeast Misso~urian printed my essay. Unfortun~at~ely for all, they could not respect my right to disagree with the orthodoxy of drug war beliefs and "facts" espoused by their paper.

Southeast Missouri's branch of Help End Marijuana Prohibition seeks to add balance to the information our government, law enforcement, schools and media have presented Americans as the only truth about drugs. I urge the public to take advantage of the information we offer. Unlike the Southeast Missouria~n, I believe they have the righ~t and the ability to discern rationale and truth in its unadulterated form.

Lakota Douglas

Cape Girardeau