KEVIN Sinclair's arguments in favour of the hanging of dope smugglers in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are nauseatingly shallow. Most of these runners are impressionable girls. All are young. Some may genuinely not know of the false bottoms to their cases. Their hanging will not end the trade. Their fate does not touch the really guilty - top brass in the dope rings and corrupt government officials who accept pay-offs. And the runner's death is probably a relief to the truly guilty because it eliminates witnesses they have every reason to fear. Condemn runners to life imprisonment or death by all means - but then commute the sentence and give each convict a chance to earn his/her reprieve by co-operating with those who truly hate the dope trade and whose job it is to hunt down the real criminals inside and outside governments and police forces. This pre-supposes an efficient international policing operation and kills Sinclair's main argument - that responsibility to end this trade rests with each individual government alone. It doesn't. It rests with every one of us. We are the people who help to hang these girls. W. J. SMYLY Kowloon
