IT IS impossible to take the Joseph Rowntree Foundation seriously any more.

I refer, of course, to the publication of a report from the Foundation promoting "drug consumption rooms" where people can inject themselves with heroin in pleasant surroundings (UK Should Trial drug "shooting galleries", May 23). This sort of nonsense follows its previous report suggesting drinking dens should be created for teenagers.

I fear the next step on this slippery slope may be the suggestion of reintroducing laudanum as a tincture for children so they can experience both alcohol and opium.

Given that Joseph Rowntree prohibited the sale of alcohol in New Earswick and forbade any pub to be opened there, I can hardly see him approving of a licensed shooting gallery for heroin addicts.

What is needed is education and resources to help wean people off these addictive substances.

Adrian Wilson, Grasmere Drive, York.