WE CAN'T LEGALISE DRUGS

WHAT will they think of us in the future, injecting ourselves with
mind-controlling drugs to escape reality? I can understand, in a war zone,
with killing all around, the need to escape reality but Britain is not a
war zone.

Admittedly it is depressing at times but life is all about taking the rough
with the smooth. It's certainly rough in Calderdale.

In 1962 the Samaritans opened a new centre in Halifax because this area had
one of the highest rates of suicides in the country and I think I am right
in saying that, 38 years later, the year 2000, Calderdale still has one of
the highest suicide rates in the country.

So maybe it's a good place to begin thinking of the future. In 100 or 200
years from now they might say was life so bad that they needed these fixes.

I believe the suicide rate will continue to increase along with drug taking
that distorts the mind. Even if it doesn't lead to suicide it causes
untold damage in many areas.

We can't legalise drugs because we can't make matters worse. Let's think
of the future because we owe it to so many who have given their lives in
the past.

Robert Sykes