CANNABIS

L.H. Weston (30.5.05) claims that "legislation undoubtedly greatly reduces
the availability of drugs to our youth". What evidence is there of this?
All the studies I have seen show otherwise, including the recent release of
a Christchurch School of Medicine study which indicated that about 80% of
people had used cannabis by the time they were 28.

Prohibition has never worked, not for alcohol and definitely not for other
drugs. When are we going to take our head out of the sand and implement
legislation which actually protects our young people and vulnerable groups
from harm? When are we going to take the control of drugs out of the hands
of organised crime?

L.H. Weston needs to read more widely if he thinks The Great Brain Robbery
has anything useful to offer in this debate. "Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition" is a good place to start (http://www.leap.cc/) or "Educators
for Sensible Drug Policy" (http://efsdp.org/canada/).

S. MURRAY

Forbury