JUST a thought about John Howard and heroin ("The use and abuse of
treaties", CT, December 16, p.10) and the cartoon showing John Howard
as the Hamburglar.

It's a reflex action for me to think the worst of nearly every John
Howard action and pronouncement. I have a lot of company. When he
slapped the GST on high-end Olympic tickets, the interesting thing was
not whether he did it as a pay back, the interesting thing was that
most people naturally assumed he did it as a pay back.

When I heard that a United Nations body, which no-one in Australia has
heard of, has quoted a treaty, which no-one in Australia has heard of,
which enables John Howard to throw another monkey wrench into a public
health issue he doesn't support, you know what I thought?

John Howard, in a strategy session with his diligent staff, was musing
on how to stop the trials. One bright researcher was given the job of
turning up all ideas, probable, possible or unlikely. The research
came up with, to quote your editorial, "the 1961 Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs".

But why would the UN International Narcotics Control Board write to
Australia's Prime Minister, when these kind of trials have been
evaluated in Europe without intervention by the UN? I'm sorry John,
but I naturally assumed that your office had somehow prompted or
solicited the letter from the UN.

KEN GRIFFITHS
O'Connor