I am tired of Cllr John Birch’s complaints. Last week’s edition of your paper led with his ranting about drug addicts.

I accept there is a story to tell although it is a lot bigger than this man’s repeated calls for others to solve problems.

Cllr Birch appears to believe that drug-use and homelessness can all be sorted out with strong-arm tactics and more resources from the district council.

Surely this matter goes much deeper and includes how we as a society treat both drugs and people – it is not enough to say simply ‘lock them up’ or ‘fill the town with blue uniforms’.

Criminalisation of drugs and persistent cuts to many public services conspire to make the situation worse.

We may be far better placed if we had the intelligence and compassion to treat these subjects as public health challenges.

But this may be too complicated for Cllr Birch to deal with.

Instead, I would like him to concentrate upon things that are within the competence of the town council to improve.

Richard Brown

Warland, Totnes