I am quite amused with Mrs. Young's reaction to Delaey Robinson's enlightened views regarding our very serious drug abuse problems.

Mrs. Young's family fortune was, and still is, made from pushing drugs. Drugs like Prozac (fluoxetin) -- Zoloft (sertraline) -- Paxil(paroxetine) -- Valium -- Librium etc.

With side effects like vivid nightmares and dreams, palpitations, confusion and psychosis, dizziness, anorexia, agitation tremor, depersonalisation, arrhythmia, impotence, jaw cramps, memory loss, nausea, transient violence, convulsions... and the list goes on, it would take me all week to list them all.

If we are going to have drug testing of our parliamentarians, then I want them tested for these potentially lethal drugs as well. I hope we end up with a constitution that protects us from the likes of the Kim Youngs and the, surprisingly, John Barritts.

I don't know of a single substance that does not have a harmful effect on somebody, but compared to the drugs that the Phoenix drug store pushes, and the numerous and devastating side effects associated with them, marijuana can be compared to milk.

I wonder how the young man, whose life is now in ruins, feels right now.

Especially when he thinks about all the drugs he has seen passed over the bars at the Police Clubs.

Drugs that have been proven in study after study to be more harmful than the one used to finish him off at such a tender age. I suppose Mrs. Young and Mr.

Barritt thinks that's OK.

How many more young Bermudians are going to be sacrificed simply because they choose to use a less harmful social substance than the one legally prescribed? I hope the Government will, in the interest of their people, move quickly towards a more enlightened approach to our serious drug abuse problems.

AL EASTMOND Devonshire No time for Uncle Toms November 30, 2000 Dear Sir, It is common practice in Bermuda for certain PLP supporters to criticise and ostracise other for openly supporting the UBP.

I believe they are thought of as traitors to the movement (movement to what we might ask) rather than possibly enlightened. Pamela Gordon is a good example that comes to mind.

In your Sports section today I noticed that Austin Woods, another example, was reported to be chairman of the UBP in a totally apolitical article about football. I have heard the expression Uncle Tom used about such people, and the incidence of the practice seems to be on the rise.

The public debates about the proposed changes to the Constitution were encouraged on a party lines basis rather than embracing freedom of speech.

Even the Premier publicly castigated an innocent speaker for criticising a possible reduction in the number of seats in Parliament.

She called for people to listen to a debate in the House, where she enjoys a clear majority. Perhaps a referendum would be a better method to allow people to express their opinions without fear of reprisal.

If Bermuda is to move forward we need more dialogue and less fear of supporting the party of choice. Too many people are not prepared to think for themselves and would rather follow the herd and all the distorted rhetoric that goes with it.

The public naming of people as political traitors is unconscionable. These and similar practices are, to my mind, a form of unhealthy oppression, and totally out of place in a free democratic society.

PALINDOME City of Hamilton