Letter: Tough posturing no help on drugs

Tough posturing no help on drugs

Sir: Could someone explain the ludicrous military vocabulary to which public figures always resort when discussing the use of illegal drugs ("Blair launches war on drug abuse", 19 May)?

The reality for many people is that drugs are not only socially acceptable, but socially ingrained. It is paranoid to suggest that there is some sort of identifiable subculture of drug abusers which must be attacked with words like "launch" and "assault", and it is disingenuous to cite America as a success story. Whatever next? The policing miracle that was Prohibition?

I am not sanctioning drugs, nor am I pretending to know what the root causes are, but until these causes are identified and addressed and politicians and journalists leave the "moral" high ground and discard this farcical posturing about "being tough" on everything, there will be no improvements.

TOM CORNFORD

Selwyn College

Cambridge