Re: Young Drug Dealers offered free driving lessons.

On the face of it there would appear to be an element of not doing what is required to stop the drug problem these people have. However, I would say that if properly evaluated as this progresses it may just give these people the chance they need to get themselves on the right track to lead a different life, one that would give them a route to having a job, earning a living and from that respect for themselves and others.

I feel sure that many youngsters get into drugs due to not having the correct guidance in their growing-up years. Society today means there are often families without the usual structure many of our age group knew, the strict guidance a father can give is not there and incorrect behaviour goes unrestricted. What is being offered is just what a father would usually be doing. If this replaces that which is missing in the lives of those who are being mentored then nothing could be better IMO.

Drug rehabilitation as it is today does not seem to be adequate for the numbers who need it, probably due to cuts, but something has to be done and this may just be the way.

Everybody needs to have hope and to see what could be a way for them to get out of drugs and do well by their own abilities. Mentoring can show a young person how this works and has, from what I know, proved to keep people on the right side of the law. No guidance, no prospects often equals no hope. This therefore can just lead to despair and continuation of the way of life these people have got into, either by accident or deliberately.

I am not a 'do-gooder' by any means and very much believe in strictness and discipline for youngsters in their developing years when growing up. If people do not have respect for themselves and their own abilities I believe they will not have any respect for others. We see this all round us today and unless things change this will only get worse I believe.

My own upbringing was strict but fair so I received the correct guidance on what was right and what was definitely wrong. Without that I could well have got in with the wrong people and progressed from there to goodness knows where. My father would not allow this and ensured I knew what was expected by not only him but by society in those days.

With the right evaluation this idea could well prove the start of a better life for some who, otherwise would just finish up being in and out of prison, perhaps without being given an opportunity to see that there is a better way life.

Anything like this that is put in place, with the right safeguards and directed at those who themselves want to change, must be better than doing nothing at all. This is a pilot scheme so a lot could be learned either way from the results. If successful, this idea could do a lot of good. It could well be one answer to what is a growing problem in our society.