GET TO ROOT OF DRUG USE

The article "Sins and daughters" (Daily Telegraph, March 13), shows
the devastating power heroin has to destroy young lives and
disassemble families.

But it avoids the thorny issue of why so many young people use and
become addicted to drugs like heroin in the first place.

Dysfunctional family patterns are so commonplace as to be the norm
these days. But this in no way reduces the damage caused by ignorance
of the child's prime emotional and psychological needs in those
critical developing years.

Even loving and well-intentioned parents can do damage.

I found a mother's violent rage and anger in the face of her
daughter's confessed addiction a little unnerving, frightening even.

Likewise, assurances from the mother of the loving family and happy
child seem like assertions for her own benefit and not the reader's.

Families, social and medical institutions, and addicts themselves must
learn to deal with the issues surrounding heroin addiction with
integrity and heart-wrenching honesty. Otherwise, the problem is here
to stay, no matter how many thousands of extra police are on the beat.

LEON CATTINI,
Woy Woy