LETTERS

Curse of cannabis

THE front- page report on the alarming increase in children and young people hospitalised with cannabis-induced mental illness is a timely reminder of the profound dangers this drug poses.

Recent focus on the drug’s welcome medical benefits — and the growth in business opportunities — runs the risk of diluting this message by implying that cannabis is acceptable and safe, despite potent skunk being all that’s available to teenagers.

There is scarcely a young person I’ve met whose mental illness has not been triggered or worsened by taking cannabis in adolescence.

MARJORIE WALLACE, Chief executive, Sane, London N7.

Burglary trauma

WHEN I was a young policeman in the Seventies, the idea that an officer would not attend the scene of a burglary as soon as it was reported was unthinkable. Failure to deal with the crime in a proper manner would have resulted in the officer being ‘put on paper’ (disciplined).

Burglary is a traumatic experience for the victims and the attendance of a uniformed officer shows that the police are taking action.

Dealt with in a professional and compassionate manner, it helps the victim feel they are not alone.

BARRY S. SMITH, Prestatyn, Denbighshire.

Brexit showdown

LIKE millions of frustrated people who voted for Brexit, I have no idea why Theresa May’s deal has been turned down by the Commons.

MPs interviewed on radio and TV tear the deal apart, but never state what the deal lacks and what they require for it to get their vote.

For the deal to have been so heavily defeated twice means there is a black hole in the Prime Minister’s offer, but what is causing it and what would MPs do about it?

If there were a perfect solution, Mrs May would have agreed to it. At least the chance of another referendum appears to be off the table, which is just as well as we wouldn’t have a clue what we were voting for. NORMAN WANSTALL,

Burford, Worcs. WHy did Jacob Rees-Mogg take his 12-year-old son, Peter, to Chequers? Was it to show him a glimpse of his future? The last chance to get the Prime Minister’s autograph before she is ousted? A chance for a child to inject some common sense into the meeting? Or was it, perhaps, to play chess with Philip May?

RALPH DONCASTER, Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

Is smacking ever right?

AS WALES is about to introduce a ban on smacking young children, it makes me wonder how many youths committing knife crimes would have benefited from a firm hand to teach them right from wrong as toddlers.

As for a child who keeps running into the road because he thinks it’s amusing, how is he to be brought to his senses? Bribery or a good talkingto won’t work as well as a smack.

KEN HOBBINS, Birmingham.

Plastic debacle

I’M ONE of the thousands who have signed up for the Great British Spring Clean. Local councils and park authorities need to get involved. They should be setting an example, but in my area they are not.

I work part-time maintaining paths in the Lake District and pick up four to six bin liners of rubbish a week, plus recyclables. The verges along A-roads and motorways are a disgrace, as are town and city centres.

R. LEES, Ambleside, Cumbria. I AM surprised that Tesco has announced it’s ditching packaging and selling loose fruit and veg.

Over the past few months, my local store has stopped selling loose mushrooms, tomatoes and onions, which are now only available pre-packed.

Red and white onions come in netting and courgettes are sold in packs of three. And they use cling film to wrap turnips and swedes — the vegetables with the thickest skin which are not in need of protection.

PHILIP MURRAY, Belfast.

Blight of car litter louts

RUBBISH is blighting our country because people don’t care about littering. Why not increase the fines to £200? The people responsible should have to litter pick for a day or have their fine doubled.

I live in the yorkshire Dales and am shocked that visitors and walkers bundle up their rubbish into carrier bags and throw them out of the car.

They can’t be bothered to take their litter home, but at least they have a nice tidy car. If rubbish had been thrown into their garden, it would be a different story.

We spend holidays in Menorca where there is not a scrap of rubbish. People with bin bags patrol the roads and the beaches. The first thing we see when we arrive back in Britain are McDonald’s bags on the verges.

There is no pride in our environment and too many people think it is someone else’s problem. JENNIFER HUDSON,

Bedale, N. Yorks.

Funding our schools

I WAS a secondary school teacher for 34 years, NUT Secretary for 20 years and a school governor for 25 years, so I can explain the £130,000 salary of Siobhan Lowe, the head of Tolworth Girls’ School in South West London (Mail).

Following the 1988 Education Act, school governing bodies in England and Wales became responsible for how money is spent.

As teachers are paid on a national scale, local authorities work out the cost of their teaching force, find the average and devolve that figure to schools, multiplied by the number of teachers at each one. Since most young teachers are paid below average, this creates a surplus.

I have known two heads who refused a salary increase on the grounds this might result in staffing cuts or redundancies. This is what I call taking a moral stance. That did not happen at Tolworth, where Ms Lowe’s pay rise of at least £10,000 could have funded extra hours by teacher assistants or ancillary staff. But it’s easier to blame Government cuts.

Mrs M. V. GEORGE, Swansea.

Puppy power

I CAN vouch for the positive effect dogs can have in a school (Mail). The learning mentor in the school I worked in had a Labrador called Angel. It was heartening to see how difficult adolescents who struggled with their feelings would unconsciously reach out to stroke Angel. The dog would sit at their feet as we discussed the problems they were having in school. She was a valuable tool in our therapeutic work.

Isolated, sensitive children benefited from taking her for walk at breaks and lunchtimes and popping in to see her before school started.

In so many ways she helped our young students with their emotions and wellbeing when words were so hard to find. Mrs SUSAN FELLA, Enfield, Middlesex. MY MOTHER’S Yorkshire Cairn, Dino, sat under her desk at the school where she taught in the Sixties. He not only calmed anxious children, but was the subject of many an art class and the hero of countless stories.

My junior school had a garden where any naughty, unhappy or anxious child would be sent to spend 20 minutes digging, weeding and planting with the head.

As I was such a child, I can attest to the success of this scheme. How advanced my headmistress and mother were in their thinking.

SUE CLARK, Lytham, Lancs.