August 12: Time for more open debate on the drug issue

From: David March, Springhill Court, Tadcaster.

CAN I congratulate your columnist Jayne Dowle on bringing up the subject  of the strange way we deal with drug use in this country  (The Yorkshire Post, August  10)?

It’s about time we all started to talk openly about the  real situation and not resort  to scare stories, or even worse, not talk about the problems at  all.

However, there is one point I would like to raise regarding  one of Jayne’s statements implying that cannabis use  leads to the use of harder  drugs.

This simply isn’t true.

In fact ‘Talk to Frank” even states this after many years of them citing the same old ‘gateway drug’ lies.

What people need to  realise is that the various organisations which are calling for a rethink of our drug laws and the legalisation of cannabis are doing so in order to have a regulated cannabis industry with laws in place to protect our children.

We all have the same concerns and worries.

Being open and truthful  about all drugs is a start that  will hopefully lead to a more rational and fair debate as to where we go from here on the issue.