DRUG LAWS THAT MAKE NO SENSE

"Sex and drugs may provide colourful battlefields, but the war is
fought over the 'real issues', after all," Julian Borger concludes,
commenting on George W Bush's campaign hiccups (Bush stumbles as media
sniff scandal, August 26).

So, after nearly a century of prohibition, drugs aren't a real issue.
Yes, well, maybe. Hundreds of thousands of people who have a criminal
record, or who are in prison, or whose careers have been ruined - in
short, people who, unlike Mr Bush, have had their lives wrecked by
insane drug laws - might feel just a little differently.

HARRY BEGO
Utrecht, The Netherlands

"Just say no to the annual summer drugs debate" (August 26) was a
superb article. The facts were known in 1893, and they haven't changed
in the past 106 years. It doesn't make sense to criminalise cannabis
use.

Francis Wheen could just as well have pointed to any of a multitude of
other studies, such as the 1968 Wootton Report, the 1970 LeDain Report
from Canada, or the 1972 Shafer Report in the United States. All
essentially agree with the Indian Hemp Commission, and all agree that
criminalising cannabis use is a bad idea. I do not believe there has
been a credible drug policy study that has concluded otherwise.

STEVE WELLCOME
Bolton, Massachusetts, USA

I welcome Charles Kennedy's appeal for a royal commission to look at
the question of legalising drugs (High time to act over drugs, August
19). That commission should also examine the economic consequences of
legalisation. The drugs industry is a fantastic commercial success.
With an annual turnover conservatively estimated at 34 billion, banned
drugs create employment opportunities for thousands of people, many
from deprived areas. Legalising the supply of drugs, which would
amount to nationalisation, would result in a huge loss of income for
this sector, and a transfer of wealth to the government. It would also
cause a huge reduction in petty crime, as the price of addictive drugs
fell. The government must commit most of the savings this would
achieve to regenerating areas hard hit by the removal of income from
drugs trading.

LAURENCE MANN
Twickenham, Middlesex