From Dr Jane Darroch Sir: Melmoth Grant says heroin is
not physically dangerous. I used to be a child psychotherapist at the Davidson Clinic. When a certain little boy left me at the age of eleven after three years' therapy, I foresaw a reasonably happy future for him, 131:_°,; bably as a skilled manual worker wo." would take a keen interest in sport in Ills spare time. However, he died at the age of twenty from combining heroin With mandrax. Of course, it could have been the mandrax. Jane Darroch
9 Falcon Gardens, Edinburgh
Sir: The article by Melmoth Grant on drugs (July 12) and the necessity for drug education, adopted the most practical 'solution' to the 'Problem' (to use the accepted jargon) I have read in many years. Yet, in the same issue of The Spectator, I find Britain's omniscient moralist, Kenneth Robinson, illustrating the ignorance which Mr Grant was criticising. How do I reconcile these two obviously opposing viewpoints? Simple, I look at Grant's article, and find tucked at the bottom of the second column the claim 'The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of The Spectator'. If this is the case, what are the 'views' of this periodical? Posilblk Mr ROWSo'n's article answers this question — it carries no disclaimer, but merely exudes pitiful ignorance and discerningly cynical comments, about his fifteen-year-old daughter (whom I have total sympathy for).
Michael Fitzgerald 91 Junction Road, Upper Holloway, London N19 Sir: What a lot of hypocrisy for Kenneth Robinson to say (July 12) of the film Panic in Needle Park, that it ought not to have been made, and then go on to review it at some length. But of course, 'The film that should never have been made' is part of the Psychological brain-washing, at which the film industry are past masters.
There is every reason to think that this industry, which is largely American-financed, is undermining every value which The Spectator is supposed to represent. It could be a double bluff, that the intention is just that. On the Other hand, it could be fortuitous that the profit-at-any-cost motive, which Prevails in a large part of the entertainment filed, is being brilliantly used to further the cause of those who would destroy the existing order completely.
E. H. Spans wick 7 Alexandra Road, Gasgwent, Gwent