Finally, the truth about our drugs and knife crisis

I was so pleased – yet disturbed – to read Martin Stone’s article in last week’s Mail on Sunday in which he blamed middle class cocaine users for the knife crime and the homelessness crisis that he witnesses as the manager of the Muswell Hill Soup Kitchen.

Martin is up close and personal to the vicious truth. I hope someone in power listens to his grim reality.

Every time these privileged liberals receive a wrap of cocaine, or hand a fiver to a homeless person, they should think of the chain of supply, of the abuse and violence and death that our young adults and children are involved in. All this so the ‘liberal set’ can indulge their guilty pleasures. It’s a desperate situation, and now needs desperate measures.

Peter Bryant, Ramsgate, Kent

Having spent 20 years as a hostel manager, I can state, through bitter experience, that Martin Stone is absolutely right. Many people are homeless by choice – there are rooms available but most will have been banned because of their lifestyle of drug use, selling drugs or anti-social behaviour.

In my career, I gave accommodation to hundreds of homeless people but, on the other side of the coin, I evicted many too because their chosen lifestyle had an adverse effect on their fellow residents and my staff.

Unfortunately, Martin will now be attacked, just as I have been, by those who believe that street begging is nothing more than the fault of politicians.

Eric Waters, Lancing, West Sussex

As someone who has been in the precarious position of very nearly being homeless, I must take issue with what Martin Stone wrote last week. First of all, he states that being on the streets is a lifestyle choice. This may be technically true, if there are indeed beds and spaces in hostels, as he claims. But he then says that most of those on the streets will have been banned from hostels because of drug use or anti-social behaviour. Does he not consider that there are a huge number of people with untreated mental health issues who end up on the streets? He might say the NHS will help with mental health. Well, try going to your GP and being told you can be seen for a mental health assessment in three months. That’s what happened to me. How is that going to affect someone’s mental health?

N. Higham, London

Martin Stone will have a problem convincing cocaine users that they should think about the supply chain of the drug and what they are funding with their purchases.

By their very nature, cocaine users are people who love the feeling of supreme self-confidence the drug gives them. How are you going to get them to think about others when the drug is designed to make them feel like they are the centre of the universe?

D. Cleary, Manchester