From Mr R. Cordina

In the article on the front page of The Malta Independent on Sunday last week, it was reported that Dr Josie Muscat, when addressing the crowd gathered for the launch of his new party, said that the majority of youths are dependant on drugs and alcohol. I will not go into the merits or demerits of Dr Muscat's new party, however I would like to comment on the issue he raised.

I would like to know on what basis this statement was made. Has Dr Muscat made any studies on the matter? I know that he is a medical doctor and may be exposed to these problems more than other people would, but I'm sure that this statement is quite unjustified and baseless. I tend to consider myself lucky as I have quite a wide circle of friends and none of them are alcoholics or drug dependant. Having a drink on an evening out, as most people do, surely doesn't make you an alcoholic, apart from the fact that most adults do this as well; he should have included the adult population as well if this is what he was referring to. I don't know anyone who is constantly high on drugs either. I'm not saying that there isn't an alcohol or drugs problem, but making such a wide generalisation is quite rash in my opinion.

Is Dr Muscat not aware of the large number of young people who continue their studies and give a great contribution to this country? Or those youths who give up their free time to do voluntary work with a great number of institutions around the island? And what about programmes like the Mini-European Assembly, the EUPU programmes, all the various student associations on campus, Young Enterprise and the President's Award Scheme among others? These are all programmes that encourage today's youths to mature and integrate in society better, so that they can give their best when their time comes. Surely these young people should be given a mention. It is often all too easy to blame today’s youths for many of the social problems in the country. I think today's young people should be given much more credit than Dr Muscat is doing.

Robert Cordina