SIR, As a clinical psychologist I was surprised by your item Cannabis find' (Gazette, May 23). It is astonishing to know that our judiciary still sees fit to spend so much money on prosecuting a man who has £2 worth of cannabis and a £5 bush. Even more surprising that the magistrates were concerned' that the plant was growing in one of the children's bedrooms. Does this mean that magistrates are particularly careful in keeping their own drugs their wine cellars, their gin, their Harvey's carefully hidden from their children's eyes? The story on page 5, where a young man under the influence of alcohol punched his mother so much that he left her with serious facial injuries, demonstrates the incontrovertible evidence that alcohol is a far, far more dangerous drug, which the police presence at closing times in our towns demonstrates costs us so much in financial and emotional terms.

Isn't it time that we overcame this ignorant pursuit of a drug which, while not necessarily being completely harmless, is nevertheless so much less dangerous that the British drug of choice, alcohol.

Isn't it time that our judiciary addressed their own ignorance and hypocrisy about which drugs are truly harmful?

Emeritus Professor Jenny Firth-Cozens, Kendal.

May 29, 2003 15:00