ALL IS NOT AS IT SEEMS

DR WODAK'S comments ("Look to countries where drug use is decling",
Letters, 3 July) are misleading. Ms Malou Lindholm, the Swedish
representative at the recent drug summit, made it clear that accurate
international comparison of drug-related deaths is not possible
because no agreed international determinants exist. Even in Australia
there are no agreed determinants among the six states and two
territories. She gave as examples Sweden, where 80 per cent of deaths
are subject to post mortem, and Holland, where it is 30 per cent. In
short, the more you look, the more you find. She told of the German
policeman who commented, "In Holland you have to be found with the
needle in your arm before it's a drug death."

COL PARRETT
Kingston