Pubdate: Wed, 05 Apr 2000
Source: Express, Express on Sunday (UK)
Copyright: 2000 The Express
Contact:  +44-171-922-7794
Website: http://www.express.co.uk/
Forum: http://bbs.lineone.net/community/forums.html
Author: Rev Brian Boyd, Convener of the Alcohol and Drug education 
Committee of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

DON'T GO SOFT ON DRUGS

I read with regret Topaz Ammore's call to bow to logic on soft drugs 
(Express April 1).  She seems to unquestionably accept the flawed argument 
that cannabis is harmless and so ought to be legalised.

Cannabis is far from harmless.  One cigarette is four times more 
carcinogenic than tobacco.  A major medical study published only last week 
indicated that cannabis use can lead to serious lung damage. Furthermore, 
both cannabis and Ecstasy are gateway drugs which lead people into use of 
other substances such as heroin.  Evidence for this has been provided from 
Holland, where so called soft drugs have been legalised and a nation to 
whom we are often urged to look for an example in how to solve drug problems.

In 1997 the University of Amsterdam surveyed some 22,000 Dutch citizens 
above the age of 12.  In the city of Amsterdam itself almost 37% were found 
to take drugs on a regular basis.  More frightening still was the finding 
that almost 42 per cent had tried heroin at least once.  This compares with 
less than 1 per cent in the UK. Surely we do not want to go down that road?

Illegal drugs (1,800 deaths per year) do not kill as many people in the UK 
as tobacco (128,000 deaths) or alcohol (33,000 deaths) but that is not an 
argument for legalising substances which carry their own dangers.  Rather, 
it is an argument for even greater efforts at educating our people as to 
the very real dangers of socially accepted drugs and perhaps for new 
radical thinking on how to make them less socially acceptable.
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