IT'S MY POISON

(Smokers have paid their way, Letters, 21/2) strikes a chord that echoes
deeper than his excellent analysis. I concur with his sentiments and
multiply them.

I am pushing 63. I, too, have smoked since I was 15, but much more heavily
than a pack a day. They were going to hold the world smoking championships
in Perth but had to cancel the event because all the other entrants pulled
out after learning that I live here. It amazes me that I am still alive. The
same applies to my intake of alcohol. Equally disgusting.

In any age we, the mob, are sucked in by the commercial world to imbibe
whatever filth is most profitable to them. The poisons - nicotine and
alcohol being the two timeless twins - are presented with the most glamorous
image possible.

May heaven help the world if the legalisation of drugs comes to pass. It is
the responsibility of the medical and legislative worlds to treat us foolish
followers of fashion. We are weak-willed wimps who simply do what we are
told to do - consume.

Perhaps when Jesus Christ deigns to revisit us he will show us a way to live
free of such temptations and we will all live substance-free lives. Gawd, it
will be boring. The medical world will go broke and governments will have to
tax the air we breathe, air often as or more toxic than ingested substances
of which we at least have a choice.

RICHARD A. EDWARDS, Armadale.