JUST SAY ‘YES’?

Lee Dembart’s review of Ronald Siegel’s book, “Intoxication,” (Book Review, July 23), while well intentioned, misstates the major point. Never in the book did Siegel describe marijuana, cocaine or LSD as safe or “healthy and natural.” He clearly states that these drugs, while appealing to a section of society, are potentially dangerous. In fact, he argues that such accepted drugs as caffeine are unsafe. Siegel’s premise is that we have a clearly documented “fourth drive” for intoxication. But Dembart ignores Siegel’s solution to the problem of unsafe drugs and the natural drive to pursue them. Siegel’s answer is to change the pattern of usage and create “perfectly safe drugs.” He believes that the war against these drugs must go on, but that substitutes should be created for them that can be used safely, without dysfunction to the individual or society.

Siegel is not trying to return to the past, to the ideas of the ‘60s, as Dembart alludes. Rather, he is looking into the future and addressing an issue that only promises to become a continual and growing problem, unless it is looked at from a new perspective. It is obvious that although the war on drugs is necessary, it is not solving our nation’s drug problem. As one drug becomes unfashionable or suppressed, it is replaced with another. Why not replace it with one that is safe to ourselves and to society?

BETHANY MUHL

LOS ANGELES