Sir: Your article 'The Drug on the Market' (9 January)
betrays in- credible naiveté. Can it be that the stubborn Englishman who ignores threats of death from the Royal College of Physicians will not risk a fine for his 'illegal' pleasure? The 'pushers' to whom you refer have been our parents, whose example we so often follow. Two alternatives present themselves as ways of ridding our society of this habit.
I. Divert a small fraction of the revenue gained from smokers towards inventing the perfect substitute.
2. Instigate an intensive campaign against smoking, directed primarily at the age-groups in which the habit begins. ie ten to twenty year olds. Such education already exists in some schools, but there is no government compulsion, and far too little money is spent on it for it to be effective.
Yes, of course the Government should feel some responsibility towards the country's smokers, of course it should take action after this week's report, but it is to be hoped that no one in Parliament would be short-sighted enough to advocate such a policy which would, in any case, be impossible to enforce!
Brian Kormn 28 Bergholt Avenue, Ilford. Es .ex
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