SCOTLAND IS A SMALL COUNTRY with some big problems. For too long we’ ve accepted drug and alcohol problems as part of our society and culture. If we can look beyond these shores we will see brave people who have found creative solutions to their unique circumstances. It is time for us to be brave. Andrew Horne, Herald, 4 September

IN WALES AND SCOTLAND minimum unit pricing is on the table or enacted. The government’ s failure in England to act on price seems to disregard the weight of expert and empirical evidence. Such is the reality of having a tax funded, politically accountable NHS while public policy relating to wider determinants of health rests with other government departments, Treasury included. … My concern is that however switched on our health service and public health leaders may be, the funding and the wider social policy to make their ambitions a reality rely on ministers, government communications teams, and Treasury officials. These parties are late to the party. David Oliver, BMJ, 11 September

WE CAN’ T SIMPLY TELL YOUNG PEOPLE to‘ say no to drugs’ at festivals. It hasn’ t worked for half a century and it won’ t work now. Instead, we need a mitigating factor – and that’ s what pill testing is. It’ s not a silver bullet. But it is backed by international evidence. Shelley Smith, Guardian, 17 September

TO THE RELIEF OF ANYONE who for medical or cultural reasons isn’ t getting sloshed and doesn’ t feel like constantly explaining why, the stigma of not drinking may be wearing off. Personally, I’ ve got no intention of going on the wagon. But a world where people are neither slut-shamed out of drinking, nor bullied into it? I’ ll raise a glass to that. Gaby Hinsliff, Guardian, 27 September

THE CULTURAL PULL OF TOBACCO, its hardiness in the face of hostility, may

be weaker than it once was – those who would have smoked until they dropped are mostly now fogged in clouds of vape – but its survival instincts are those of a cockroach in the aftermath of an atomic strike. Eleven years ago, I watched as pubs erected smoking shelters for the incoming smoking ban; I don’ t see them pulling them down in the near future. Stuart Evers, Guardian, 24 September

REOFFENDING RATES ARE FAR TOO HIGH, few alternatives to custodial sentences are pursued – because of populist political pressure – and the result is more recidivism, more violence, more burglary, more crime generally and more emotional and financial costs loaded onto peaceful citizens when offenders are released. It is a classic example of a false economy. Independent editorial, 20 September