Letter: Wasted years?

Sir: With regard to your leading article on wasted youth (31 May), I spent the greater part of my youth in a haze of drugs and alcohol before joining Alcoholics Anonymous aged 21. Now 30 and married with children, I find myself returning to education. I am studying with an enthusiasm and maturity and, above all, an incentive. A wasted youth is not a wasted life. For me, it was a period of learning some important lessons about life the hard way.

Yours faithfully,

PETER BAKER

Blandford St Mary, Dorset