IT is a terrible sign of the times when a coroner has to make all the right noises to get something done about methadone abuse.

And, I may sound pessimistic, but I doubt even Andre Rebello's comments will change things in the near future.

The street trade in methadone has been around as long as heroin addiction and preventing it would need a radical change in society.

I would support any scheme which could prevent just one person dying from a methadone overdose but fundamental hurdles need to be cleared.

We need to have to look at why there is a market for methadone.

The obvious reason is money. As any addict will tell you, a wrap of heroin is preferable to a cup of methadone and so the prescribed drug is sold to pay for the illegal one - an easy way of feeding a habit.

But if people didn't want to buy it there wouldn't be a market. Why do young people want methadone? Because they're bored.

You might be shocked by my statement, but hear me out.

Teenagers these days have tried everything and they are frightened of nothing and no one. Many have taken ecstasy, amphetamines, cannabis, and LSD. So what's next? Heroin is expensive and methadone is the cheaper alternative.

You see the real problem is not with the doctors who prescribe it, it's in society. Children who have no fear of authority are growing up in a society which says to them: "Grab what you can, no matter what the price."

We have to educate them that the price, next time, could be their life. PEOPLE often cite the excuse that the Royals live on our taxes and we have a right to know what they are up to.

But if that were true, wouldn't we also be wanting updates on every single mum, unemployed person and student in the country?

The real reason we are so interested in the royals is that we all love a good soap, and the royals need publicity to survive - so the tabloids kill two birds with one stone and feed us a diet of their intimate goings on.

It's perfect. They have the wealth of Dallas, the morals of Dynasty and some of them have less class than the Dingles. And some of the stories they have provided us with are harder to swallow than Bobby Ewing's resurrection.

And as for all this worrying about Prince Charles remarrying and being defender of the faith - wasn't the Church of England set up by a Henry VIII just so he could marry again?

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.