Letters - 18 March 2016

17 Mar 2016 | by The Friend

From conscientious objectors to Plane Stupid

Conscientious objectors

I was astonished to hear an item on a BBC religious programme on Radio 4 last Sunday about conscientious objectors in the first world war that failed to mention Friends.

Somehow their focus for the piece was mainly around the Methodists, who in the broadcast claimed no special connection to not fighting in wars.

Had the BBC, I wondered, never heard of Quakers or was it that we had deliberately been excluded from the Sunday religious world that broadcasts to the nation?

History, happily, does not rely on the BBC for accuracy here; but, really, are Quakers still struggling to be recognised and heard after all these years?

Mick Henry

Drugs: a contentious issue

Part of me agrees with the sentiments of a recent article (4 March). When I was young, registered heroin addicts could obtain pure supplies on prescription, and the number of addicts [to ‘manufactured drugs’] nationally was in the hundreds. Criminalising people for holding small amounts of personal use drugs seems rather pointless – though wouldn’t the logical next step be to legalise supply? Many people are certainly drawn into crime by having to resort to criminals for supply, not to mention sadly needing money to buy drugs. Supporters of decriminalisation can point to the inconsistencies in policy towards the various drugs. Alcohol, often linked to violence, is legal. Yet the age for legally buying cigarettes (bad for health, but not usually linked with violent actions) seems to go up and up.

Do we really want more drugs? Drugs are linked to poorer health. Even marijuana seems to trigger a latent schizophrenic tendency in some users. How would we feel if our grandchild came in one evening and started to take a class A drug?

Personally, I think there is a class element to this. Deprivation is a factor in the problematic use of drugs. Middle-class people can usually get support, but disadvantaged people can find it much harder to cope. They will bear the brunt, as usual, of such changes, and there is unlikely to be more public money to help.

So, on balance, on the precautionary principle, I would be very cautious in relaxing the law on drugs and would instead concentrate on improving education.

Neil Simmons

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