The sudden collapse of Drugsline is a disaster which simply has to be rectified. The charity has not only saved the lives of many of those already ravaged by drug abuse; the preventative work it does in schools and colleges is essential. Without it, we risk making an already bad situation far worse.
Drugsline has credentials to work among those who would refuse help from secular organisations. So it is all the more critical that its work continues.
The sums involved are tiny; Drugline’s entire annual budget is no more than £250,000. So it is all the more deplorable that there has been an almost total lack of interest from communal bodies in its collapse — and an absolute refusal to do anything to help.
What is the purpose of the Jewish Leadership Council if it is not to provide leadership? Yet it has dismissed the idea that it should involve itself in the fate of so vital a part of the community. The JLC has boasted of its new “community chest”: it is difficult to imagine a more appropriate use of such funds than saving Jewish lives.
We are blessed with many generous philanthropists. There must, surely, be someone who is willing to save this vital work — and, in doing so, to put to shame a communal leadership which has refused to lift a finger to help.
