THE BIG ISSUE: COCAINE IT'S WRONG TO BLAME AMY WINEHOUSE

After reading 'The devastating price of Britain's cocaine habit'
(Comment, last week), it should be noted that the burdens this trade
puts on South America cannot solely be attributed to users of the drug.

A user may well take the view they are simply consuming a product
from South America, much as we might buy coffee. At this point, there
is the obvious objection that the big difference between coffee and
cocaine is that cocaine is illegal.

However, if coffee were made illegal, its price would rise
dramatically due to limited availability and, in turn, this would
encourage smugglers and give rise to huge criminal coffee-smuggling networks.

We would end up with a situation analogous to that of the cocaine
trade. Perhaps the burden of the afflictions caused to
cocaine-producing countries should not rest on the consumers but on
the law-makers.

Richard Robertson

Leamington, Warwickshire