Caught in the Web of Drug Addiction

In each letter it is crystal clear that the friends are unable to make the victim see the folly of it all: not only that, they obviously don't" know how to convince them that ana nothing must be done, and quickly, if they are to break the bonds of their own making.

Their reluctance to take medical advice I can. like others who have given thought to the matter. understand.

Perhaps the best way to break down their resistance would be to counsel them to discuss their problem with an organisation that deals exclusively with the many difficulties experienced by youth.

Anyway, read what "Worried" says.

These three letters to George Antiel are all hoaxes. My friend and I sent off the first letter shortly after the Sports Post front-paged a dubious story involving professional demonstrators employed by an anarchist group pledged to the destruction of New Zealand's present state see Salient June 14th). We were wondering just how gullible the Sports Post was. A reply appeared on June 24th. Amazed and amused by this reply we sent off two more letters to Mr Antiel, the one which appeared on July 8th had a small sentence mentioning use of dark glasses and long sleeves edited out. Was this done to make the letter more credible or to protect "fellow employee" from recognition? Our third letter appeared intacts. We don't despise lonely-heart columns it is just that "Boy Advises Girl" provided the easiest means of testing gullibility. It's a sad reflection on our society that so many troubled people do not have access to more personal forms of counselling. We do object to authors of such columns moralising and dispensing advice on topics they know very little about. We also feel that the manner in which the letters were headed up suggests they are being commercially exploited.

We prefer to remain anonymous.