FACTS

Melanie Phillips clearly does not believe in allowing the facts
about drug education to get in the way of a good story.

Far from telling young people ''how to take drugs 'safely' '', drug
education focuses on encouraging them to make responsible choices. It
forms part of the wider personal, social and health education
curriculum. Organisations such as ours are vigilant in assessing
classroom materials to ensure that they support this work.

Nobody would deny that providing effective drug education is a complex
and difficult task.

To suggest, as Phillips does, that we have given up the struggle and
are content to ''normalise'' drug use among young people will be
deeply demoralising to the many conscientious teachers and youth
workers who deal with this issue on a daily basis.

Noel Towe
Chair, Drug Education Forum
London EC1