Letters: Fear of drugs

Sir: In his recent article on drugs ("Our primitive fear of drugs", 17 August), the Bishop of Edinburgh bemoans the fact that the debate is not carried out in "purely moral terms". He then spends the rest of his argument suggesting that prohibition doesn't work, that alcohol abuse is worse than drug abuse, and that a middle way between prohibition and absolute licence should be followed. Not much moral argument in that lot!

Surely the issue is whether taking drugs is morally correct for the individual and society as a whole. Society has to give a lead to its members on what is good and what is bad. If it fails to do so, it will soon cease to have any rationale for its existence. Ask the alcoholic with a ravaged liver or the smoker with terminal lung cancer whether their drug is a good thing or not. Their answers will determine whether caution on the legalisation of other drugs is an act of morality.