Cannabis casualties

looKING out of my window, I saw a good example of why cannabis should never be legalised.

I asked a group of youths, who were sitting on my front wall and smoking, to move because my wife was terminally n ill with pancreatic cancer and their th presence was causing her stress.

I also explained that lung cancer is caused c by smoking and, statistically, at a least one of them was destined to die d in the same pain and suffering as my wife before their 50th birthday as a direct result of smoking.

one of the young girls was a drug dealer and was hiding a bag of cannabis behind her back. I told her that she was lucky because I am a former fo police officer — had I still been a serving officer, she would have been arrested.

I also pointed out that there is a proven link between cannabis and mental illness.

the real reason I did not report the incident to the authorities is that apart from the fact I do not want a brick through my window, the police and Parliament have surrendered our streets to criminals.

Recently, I saw the young girl drug dealer again. she was staggering all over the place, stoned out of her brains. looking at the state she was in, it is obvious her life is wrecked.

I would not be surprised if in the next couple of years I read in the local newspaper that she has become another dead body found in a filthy back alley. that is what drugs do to young people.

STUART BOWER, Hove, E. Sussex.