NO COMPROMISE ON SOFT DRUGS

JACK STRAW, the home secretary, can finally speak out. If somebody like him
could have personal experience of the drug culture how much more likely
that deprived families on sink estates, with drugs more readily available,
will be confronted with this problem.

He has always taken a strong line against the legalisation of cannabis and
other soft drugs and should continue to do so.

As we know only too well there is a slippery slope between soft and hard
drugs. There must be no compromise on this issue.

Paul & Janet Betts
Leah Betts Helpline Action for Drugs Awareness

RETHINK: Since we now know that the cabinet minister alluded to last week
is Jack Straw we can concentrate on matters of greater public concern.
Despite much publicity and concerted government action, drug taking is on
the increase, with drugs available for all who want them.

Drug-related crime accounts for about 70% of all crime in many major
cities, costing millions in police time, to say nothing of the
unquantifiable misery of the victims.

The problem has been escalating for 20 years. Despite this picture of
abject failure, all that the government can suggest is more of the same
policy. The fundamental truth is that unless the public's appetite for
drugs changes, the drug problem will continue.

In America prohibition spawned an underworld of bootleggers and organised
crime. Today drugs have taken the place of alcohol and organised crime
flourishes. You can be sure that those engaged in the drug supply trade
will vehemently oppose any change.

Decriminalisation will, of course, call for a considerable increase in
facilities for the treatment of drug addiction, currently one of the
Cinderella services of the NHS. As a former member of an NHS district
management team I know full well that drug addiction treatment has a very
low priority when set against other competing demands.

Many fear that decriminalisation means a tacit approval of drug taking,
when its real aim is to deny business to drug pushers who feed the drug
habit. You cannot prohibit habits but you can provide the climate in which
they may be changed.

Dr Owen Lister
Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire