THERE needs to be a sensible debate about the effects of drug addiction in this country, with both sides in the argument needing to be far more flexible.

Clearly there are flaws in the current policy because ‘the war on illegal drugs’ has patently not been achieving what it should.

Many burglaries, robberies and shoplifting are the result of addicts trying to feed a Class A drug habit.

But those who think that decriminalising heroin and cocaine will cure the problem are naive about how to achieve this.

They seem to think if the State gets involved it will in one sweep knock out the criminal cartels making billions out of the misery of others.

One contributor to the debate on radio yesterday even tried to reason that if you can strike ‘Fairtrade’ deals over the supply of coffee and cacao with farmers in the Third World, why can’t you achieve the same with poppy farmers in Afghanistan?

Nonsense. The criminal overlords earn billions and use violence to protect their empires. All that will happen is the Government will end up directly funding the Taliban, et al.

We need a solution that minimises the harm to society without waving a white flag of surrender and giving community’s blessing to use these evil products.