SO, how do 13-year-olds obtain cannabis? (Cannabis probe at York school, The Press, May 29).

The criminal supply of cannabis, supported by this Government, offers no protection for the young and the vulnerable; dealers don't ask for proof of age and, as kids tell me regularly, cannabis is easier to obtain than a packet of fags.

A legal, regulated supply with proper age restrictions would solve this.

These lads may have been introduced to an illegal marketplace selling everything from heroin to crack. This is a direct result of prohibition and a self-fulfilling example of the much-heralded gateway theory'.

Up to 50 per cent of teenagers have tried illegal drugs in the UK, so tough talk from schools, the police and the media about the menace' of drugs is disingenuous.

People just don't get it, do they? If these children had been caught smoking a cigarette no one would have batted an eyelid, let alone report it in the press, but tobacco kills more people than all illegal drugs combined.

The hypocrisy stinks. Have we got our priorities way out or what?

Bill Scriven, the head teacher of All Saints' RC School, York, mentions a robust' response to drug abuse. From this article, I see nothing to suggest any abuse has taken place, but with these exclusions I see the school is quite willing to abuse the children's education over a substance readily available all over York.

It's time to stop ruining people's lives in this way, time for a different and an effective approach to drugs, and one which is not intent on alienating kids from the society that should be protecting them.

No victim, no crime.

Steve Clements, The Legalise Cannabis Alliance, Asquith Avenue, York.