PM SHOULD LOOK AT THE CAUSES

PRYOR'S famous 'sick camel' cartoon illustrated that one picture is worth a
thousand words and it's aptly imitated by Sharpe's 'safe gambling room'
cartoon of December 20 (Ct, p.8).

When R. S. Gilbert stated, 'the silent majority doesn't favour a
drug-injecting room'' (Letters, December 20) I believe he was right. Too
often politicians like Michael Moore try to make law of their individual
social or economic theories without giving consideration to all the aspects
of its implementation.

As Sharpe's cartoon implies, we may soon see a 'safe room' for gamblers,
and perhaps there's one on the cards for those addicted to sniffing glue or
cocaine. These addictions may simply be demonstrations of human weaknesses
but I believe they are mainly attempts by people without hope to escape
harsh socio-economic realities.

Maybe it's time for John Howard to change his 'zero tolerance' approach to
drugs to a more realistic one which will focus on the causes of these
problems and not the effects. His policies encourage adverse socio-economic
conditions which include an inequitable distribution of national wealth
while ensuring that corporations and their overpaid CEOs benefit from tax
legislation which contributes to the problem.

John Cox, Farrer