I read with dismay the letter written by the radical right-wing Victoria Gillick, regarding John Smithee and his anti-capitalist views.

She states that he has now turned into a pro-capitalist, due to his call for cannabis to be made legal. She also quotes him as saying that “working class entrepreneurs are scum” and that he is calling for their “overthrow by well-heeled industrialists and businessman”.

May I suggest that Victoria Gillick take a leaf from John Smithee’s book and research a subject, before making vitriolic, puerile and may I say personal attacks on someone for holding an opposing view to her.

There was no mention that I can see in John Smithee’s letter, of him describing anyone as the “scum of the earth”.

I would suggest that she is projecting her own views on working class people and attributing those views to him. As for her suggestion that he calls for “industrialists and businessmen too overthrow” what is essentially a cottage business is ludicrous in the extreme.

With the money that is generated by the illegal drug industry in this country, which is more often than not, used to fund other criminal activities such as terrorism.

Might it not be a good thing to legalise it and hence make it a regulated and safer product for people to purchase.

The Institute of Alcohol Studies has stated that, “it has been estimated that in a community of 100,000 people each year, 1,000 people will be a victim of alcohol-related violent crime”.

And the National Probation Service advises offenders that ‘alcohol is a factor related to a lot of crimes including many assaults, murder and rape cases (between 50 and 80 per cent).

May I also suggest that if cannabis was legalised, the taxes this would generate, would go a long way to paying off our deficit created by the banks.

Consequently there would be less need for this radical right-wing government, to take money from the hands of the sick, disabled, unemployed and low waged.

STEVEN SMITH

Elizabeth Terrace,

Wisbech