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A drug free world is unrealistic since there will always be those who seek an effortless altered state of consciousness and drug peddlers, legal and criminal, who will ensure their needs are met. Nor is the legalising of drugs an answer as can be seen from the fact that Roche has been found guilty of the unauthorised peddling slimming drugs to a chain of slimming 'clinics' here in the UK. What prevention measures exist should be intensified. Drug use can be reduced as witnessed by countries like Singapore which up until the 1970s had a major drug problem. They resolved it by humane compulsory treatment of first and second time 'offenders', without attaching the stigma of a criminal conviction. Singapore also dispenses summary and permanent prevention to dealers in a manner which ensures that they are unable to re-offend. Today Singapore with a multi racial community of 4 million people is a peaceful country, where diverse cultures live in harmony and where criminal activity is low. It is also interesting to note that of those facing drug charges, just 23 per cent are reoffenders. so let's stop being defeatist about what can be achieved and focus on achieving it, bearing in mind the following: 'For every complex problem there is a solution which is neat, simple and wrong' (Menckel)