Children conditioned to alcohol
In my opinion, Dr Sharyn Davies is away with the fairies with her views on alcohol (Dec 22).
Alcohol is a toxin and a poison to the human body. It causes widespread violence, many road deaths, destruction of families, addictions that cannot be addressed due to lack of addiction centres or no centres at all and many other negative side-effects.
This drug is promoted by sports and other organisations through advertising, and by supermarkets as a ‘‘type of food’’?
Supermarkets are conditioning young children (by placing alcohol near food) that alcohol is a normal part of a person’s diet...
The NZ Government is basically a drug dealer due to the huge taxes it gets from alcohol. The Government behaves like the three ignorant wise monkeys; see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil...
The negative effects of alcohol on New Zealand citizens are well documented and disgusting for a civilised society.
Ron Williams, Clifton
Social cost
In my letter published in The Press on December 20, I expressed my real concern about the social cost of legalising cannabis.
Dr Sharyn Graham Davies’ letter published in the same paper on Saturday suggests ‘‘From every angle, legalising all drugs, not just marijuana, makes sense: ..’’
That makes me more than just concerned. Is this a hidden widespread agenda? Do we not remember the enduring result of legalising synthetic cannabis just a few years ago? Is cannabis just the next cab off the rank? Is the drug lobby planning pharmacies operating like an off-licence? This could make a No vote even more important in 2020.
Bruce Hille, Hillsborough
Modest attire
Thanks to Chris Watkins for his suggestions in two recent letters, the last on December 21. It is possible women could be more modestly attired. The problem is, I seem to recall reading somewhere that a flash of a stockinged ankle from a lady otherwise very modestly attired had a similar effect on men in the 1800s and early 1900s as his ‘‘scantily clad’’ women of today have now.
So I propose a solution. If he or his friends cannot cope with the way women choose to dress, without feeling they must give women ‘‘unwanted attention’’ of any kind, I propose the ‘‘Gentleman’s Blindfold’’: At any time they feel conscious of not knowing where to look, they could just slip this on, problem solved. We could market it in a few different colours and styles, to appeal to all ages.
At the next stage, some gentlemen might choose to consider wearing the Gentleman’s Blindfold every time they leave the house, as a courtesy to women they might find hard to look at without blushing.
Over time, I propose both the Gentlemen’s Blindfold movement could work together with women to enforce the wearing of the Gentleman’s Blindfold with more vigour against those men who continued to be aggressive or inappropriate towards women, once there was a strong enough uptake amongst the true gentlemen being seen to adopt it.
Samantha Lawrence, Strowan (Abridged)
Road toll
Having read the article (Dec 22), about keeping the road toll down, I must first say that I don’t profess to have the answers to the problem of safe driving behaviour, but one thing I have noticed is that many drivers seem to rely on seeing the brake lights of the vehicle in front operate so they know when to apply their own.
Keeping an eye on what is going on farther along the road so you are ready to take appropriate action was one thing which was impressed on me when I was being taught to navigate through city traffic.
Just a thought, but every little helps.
Drive carefully and have a happy and safe Christmas, and a happy New Year.
Vic Smith, Halswell