PARENTS SHARE THE BLAME FOR BRITAIN'S TEEN TERRORS

AS British attempts to tackle drink and drugs are failing, why not
consider an alternative approach?

Despite dramatically lower per capita spending on the drug problem,
the Netherlands has reduced overall drug use by replacing cannabis
prohibition with regulation.

Separating the hard and soft drug markets and establishing controls
for age has proven more effective than zero tolerance.

At the moment, cannabis, the most popular illicit drug in Britain,
provides a gateway for the criminals who introduce users to hard drugs.

Sadly, mainstream politicians, many of them former cannabis smokers,
prefer preaching to pragmatism.

They continue to allow a thriving black market to poison
teenagers.

ROBERT SHARPE, Lindesmith Center -Drug Policy Foundation, Washington DC