Sir, - I am dismayed by the recent spate of heroin-related deaths because, more than anything else, the deaths have been caused by hypocrisy. We live in a society where the peddling of death through alcohol and tobacco are carefully regulated and highly taxed. However, vast sums of money are spent in this country, as well as in the rest of the world, on trying to eradicate the drugs trade. Has there been any success? The answer is an emphatic no. Not even death sentences have succeeded in even denting the volume or profitability of drug dealing.
In Ireland we are building more and more prison spaces and drug lords have been targeted. Yet, illegal drugs are still easily available. Isn't it time to recognise that the market will always demand narcotics? And the mature response is to tax it, regulate it and so, finally, defeat the drug lords who will never be beaten by the gardai. - Yours, etc.
P. Bowler, Parnell Street, Dublin 1.