In his Aug. 13 letter, “So much ado over use of drugs,” David Williams laments the fact that Japan is “50 years behind America when it comes to the ‘evil of drugs.’ ” But I think that sometimes being behind the times is actually a good thing. It’s a horrifying thought to imagine Japan “progressing” so as to be more like the West when it comes to drug use.
Williams presents three U.S. presidents as examples of people who became successful despite past drug use. But their experience is more than outweighed by that of millions of people in the West whose lives have been literally destroyed by drugs. I don’t blame the Japanese for keeping this tragic reality out of their country.
Unable to view this article?
This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.
Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see out this support page.
We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.