REAPPRAISAL OF DRUGS

Sir, - Eddie Holt's article (February 10th) concerning our society's many
conflicting perceptions of drug-taking warrants a great deal of praise.
However, his call for a "realistic reappraisal" of the current situation is
unfortunately naive.

The status quo suits those middle-class politicians who can with pompous
regularity declaim on such and such an initiative and hire ever more gardai
but singularly fail to tackle the social conditions which can motivate
young people to escape into heroin.

It's not a problem which requires a great deal of intelligence to tackle.
The current policy has failed, continues to fail and in fact there is no
indication that it will ever be anything but a failure. There is no
jurisdiction in the world, even those that regularly employ the death
penalty, which has eliminated drug-taking. Surely the only response to
something that doesn't work is to change it? Yet that "realistic
reappraisal" is as a remote possibility now as it has ever been.

May I respectfully suggest that halving an already bloated police force
would free up huge amounts of resources for social workers, care workers,
psychologists, etc. Or they could invest the money directly into the areas
where drug-related crimes and deaths are greatest. Realistic? - Yours, etc.,

P. Bowler, Rathgar, Dublin 6.