LIVES RUINED BY ADDICTION

There is one major consideration missing from the "utilitarian" argument
for legalising drugs put forward by David Aaronovitch (Comment, 23 April).

When you consider the time and effort people put into becoming addicted to
nicotine - a drug with little discernible narcotic effect - how many more
are going to become addicted to highly narcotic drugs like cocaine and
heroin if they are freely available? Nicotine and alcohol are often
compared unfavourably with recreational drugs because of their greater
detrimental effect on both individual and society, but how much of this is
as a result of their legality and general availability?

What it comes down to is this - how many additional lives is David
Aaronovitch prepared to see ruined by addiction in order to stop his car
radio being stolen?

There is, I'm afraid, a parallel argument against the legalisation of
cannabis which I take from personal experience. Every person I know who is
a regular cannabis user is now addicted - not to cannabis but to tobacco.

Pete Barrett, Colchester, Essex