Letters

Waste of time

Graham Bash is quite right in regarding Respect as a waste of time and energy (‘Another cul de sac’ Weekly Worker February 12).

However, comrade Bash, in his enthusiasm to rebuild the Labour Party, has not come up with any radical strategy to bring this about. He is telling us what should be but not how it can be achieved. Phil Maguire’s letter in the same edition is more enlightening: “As a consequence, the real immediate task facing communists and revolutionary socialists is to help to found a leftwing alternative to Respect - an alliance where the principles of revolution, republicanism and socialism are not horse-traded by opportunists, sectarians and careerists.”

I think comrade Maguire is on the right track. It’s time to leave the Socialist Workers Party sect behind and to begin to build a democratic movement which will fight to bring about a democratic revolution and establish a democratic and secular republic. It’s time for the whole of the left to put aside it’s differences and campaign for the destruction of this monarchical system. With the establishment of a republic we can correct the democratic deficit and develop the struggle towards a socialist republic.

Waste of time
Waste of time

Drugs

While agreeing with Eddie Ford’s analysis of legalising drugs, I was struck by his question asking about the last time the police raided a valium den (‘Send the right message - legalise all drugs’ Weekly Worker February 5). Indeed, when was the last time?!

The scare-mongering tactics in trying to stop people from taking illegal drugs is laughable and hypocritical, especially when considering that a quarter of all ‘legal’ drugs prescribed on the NHS are for psychiatric treatment.

How many people are hooked on psychiatric drugs? An article in The Guardian last week reports that the Chief Medical Officer plans a crackdown to reduce dependence. GPs are still dolling out ‘mother’s little helpers’ like sweets. I mean, consider this: 12 million prescriptions are issued by GPs in England alone and it is believed that there are one million long-term users. But what is commonly not explained to the user is that the drugs they have been prescribed can be highly addictive. Look in any dictionary of drugs and you will find page after page of side effects.

Where is the information explaining the dangers of addiction (you can become addicted in as little as two weeks!)? Where is the public money educating people about the risks of long-term addiction? The only organisations which produce useful and objective advice are mental health charities like Mind and other grassroots, user-led groups such as Survivors Speak Out, etc.

But then, if people were given choices regarding their treatment and objective information about addiction, where would that leave the pharmaceutical companies who make millions off the backs of suffering?

Take the pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly, which has recently been ordered to stop taking patients in a drug trial for the new antidepressant, dueoxetine (will be known as Cymbalta). Five patients have committed suicide whilst involved in the trial, yet Eli Lilly refutes the allegation that dueoxetine was any way to blame, even though the patients had been prescribed over the therapeutic amount. Will there be a public inquiry into these deaths? Probably not, as trying to make pharmaceutical companies accountable or responsible for what they do is usually extremely difficult. The fact that drug companies can test these drugs in secret and are not open to public scrutiny is a disgrace.

The government is obsessed with its ‘war on drugs’ and criminalising people who get caught up in it. This ‘war’ is riddled with contradictions, bearing in mind that there are thousands of people strung out and completely hooked on legal drugs, but I don’t see the government getting tough with the pharmaceutical companies. But that’s wishful thinking on my part!

Given the choice between the latest psychoactive concoction and a spliff, then pass me the Rizlas, comrade!

Drugs
Drugs

Crèche crisis

Over the past year, I have been unable to attend two People’s Assemblies against the war, the national conference on the Palestinian right to return, the annual trades councils conference, and the founding conference of Respect, as a result of the failure to provide a crèche. In one case (trades councils), the promised crèche was scrapped at the last moment; the others never even planned to have one.

I am extremely angry about this. Beyond that, I am almost in despair. If our comrades no longer see the need to plan for inclusive events, what hope do we have of winning the debate on this beyond our own ranks? Are we condemned to fight this battle again and again every few years? Of course I welcome the fact that large numbers of young people and new activists are moving into our struggles, and taking leading roles. But we have to ensure that this is not at the cost of the important lessons that we have collectively learned from nearly 40 years of struggle.

I hope that many of you will write to the Stop the War Coalition to protest at its discriminatory decision not to provide a crèche for the February 28 annual conference, and that, even now, we will be able to get this changed to enable the attendance of those of us (and I can’t be the only one) with childcare responsibilities.

Editor’s note: Part of comrade Rance’s letter published last week (February 12) was cut in error. We apologise for this and are happy to publish here the missing paragraphs.

Crèche crisis
Crèche crisis