IT'S THE BAN THAT KILLS THE ADDICTS

The welcome statement by the former minister Bob Ainsworth on the
failure of prohibition to control drug use is yet another small
turning point in the direction of what will inevitably come, namely
decriminalisation.

Dr Trevor Turner compares this debate with that of legalising
homosexuality in the 1950s and 1960s. He might have done better to
make the comparison with abortion law reform, which saw deaths from
"back-street abortions" fall dramatically once abortion was seen as a
social and public health problem and brought in to the NHS, rather
than a criminal one.

Having as a GP seen the deaths of young men and women from illegal
drug use in "the back streets", I have no doubt that it was the
criminal nature of their activity that was the major contributory
factor in their deaths. If drug use was seen as a public health
problem and they had had legal, controlled access to their drugs, they
would be alive today.

It is only when independent research into the impact of prohibition on
the medical, social and economic state of this country is carried out
that the evidence will be available to persuade politicians that
current legislation is truly harmful.

Dr Nick Maurice, Marlborough, Wiltshire