Source: Evening Express, Aberdeen, UK

Pub Date: 7 May 1998

Pub LTE: This silly war on drugs

Author: Alun Buffry

THIS 'SILLY' WAR ON DRUGS

SO the Government plan to 'educate' children about drugs from the age of five.

This must be one of the most nonsensical and topsy-turvy tactics so far employed in their 'War on Drugs'. It seems the Government ought to educate themselves about the reasons why young people take drugs and about the failure of blanket prohibition policies to discourage them.

I wonder what sort of nonsense they are going to tell the children? Will it be about Goldilocks trying Daddy and Mummy Bear's drugs but only liking Baby Bear's soft drugs? Or maybe Jack (or his son William) growing seeds which turned out to be cannabis?

Not so long ago drugs education was taken to eight and nine-year olds. Now look at the virtual drugs epidemic among our teenagers. The type of education given was tantamount to advertising, they even took ex-junkies into schools to show that it is possible to overcome addiction.

Telling kids not to take drugs at five or six is like telling them not to eat sweets. The result is that eventually the kids will want to experiment.

As for the claims that young children have access to £2 bags of heroin in the playground, maybe someone ought to start supervising them as happened in my schooldays; nobody could have got near us when we were small

Alun Buffry

Norwich