Sir, I was very glad to see that in a recent article Alan Cochrane has
seen sense with regards to the failure of the 'Just Say No' slogan used
by, amongst others, Scotland Against Drugs. What more proof do we need
that this does not work? Poll after poll has shown that large numbers of
youngsters continue to ignore this form of 'education' and it is well
known that some people will do illegal things for the thrill factor, or
to rebel against authority.

I wonder if Mr Cochrane would be willing to extend his logic to the
issue of prohibition? The current system of criminilising the use of
certain drugs is comparable to American alcohol prohibition in the
1920's. Alcohol prohibition may have reduced overall consumption of
alcohol, but it led to a rise in the use of dangerous moonshine (illegal
drugs are often adulterated and therefore potentially more dangerous
than they would be if legal). Also, it caused a large increase in murder
rates and enabled organised crime to make huge sums of taxfree money.

It did not work and had to be repealed. Drug prohibition has been shown
not to work and has to be repealed.

Yours etc
Hugh Robertson
aka Shug