Restrict all drugs

Re: “Mafia drug scum”, (PostBag, Nov 21).

How refreshing to read the letter on drugs by Felix Qui.

Whilst I have argued the case for decriminalisation of drugs in the UK and Sri Lanka, I have always come up against a hidden prejudicial block and I know that in the case of Sri Lanka this is because the drug business is underwritten by powerful officials to the extent that Interpol even “washed its hands” of the country.

The important factor which Mr Qui did not mention and to which I trust he would agree is that all recreational drugs, including tobacco, need to be restricted to specifically licensed outlets (certainly not supermarkets) and available only to registered addicts who are not minors.

The reason for including tobacco which is already legal, but would certainly not be if it were to be discovered today, is because to the best of my knowledge it does more harm than all the others put together including the abuse of taking drugs and driving. Mr Qui quite rightly points out that an adult ought to be free to harm himself or herself, but this does not take into consideration one’s social responsibility or, in the case of tobacco the harm and misery it causes to other people. This is not to mention the fatalities suffered by young boys enslaved in the tobacco fields, even in the USA, or the damage to the environment. MICHAEL NIGHTINGALE