IT IS typical of the civil liberties lobby that it immediately denounces as draconian the government's plans for mandatory drug tests for all crime suspects and the refusal of bail for those found using heroin or cocaine.

But most people, even if they believe that addicts are themselves victims of a vice, welcome on behalf of the millions of victims of drug-related crime, the step of locking up addicts while they are dealt with by the courts so that they do not commit more crimes in the interim.

It is a tough measure, but also a commonsense one that is long overdue.

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