Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jan 2000
Source: Irish Independent (Ireland)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd
Contact:  http://www.independent.ie/
Author: Nora Bennis
Note: "Questions and Answers" is a weekly program on Ireland's
main TV station, RTE1. It concentrates on questions concerning current
affairs.

JOHN BOWMAN AND THE DRUG CULTURE

Sir,

I have today been contacted by many parents who are bitterly hurt and
angry at John Bowman's irresponsible promotion of the drug culture
during Questions and Answers.

Some of the parents who contacted me have lost children to drugs and
their pain was palpable over the phone.

Parents around the country are aware of the push to legalise cannabis
and other so-called "harmless" soft drugs. They know from their bitter
experience that that there is no such thing as a "harmless" drug, soft
or hard. Apart from the personal damage which is done to the users and
their families, there is also the fact that garda resources are being
stretched in the battle against these "soft" drugs which, according to
Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne, are a key factor in Ireland's current
crime problem.

On behalf of the parents who have tragically lost children to drugs
and those who are still suffering from the fallout, I now seek an
apology from RTE's John Bowman and the four guests who, while strident
in their demands for justice for the victims of child abuse in the
past, failed miserably to condemn this modern form of child abuse.

Nora Bennis,
Revington Park,
Limerick
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