Philip Seymour Hoffman and a double standard over drugs | Simon Jenkins

We turn a blind eye to an unworkable law and assume it does not apply to people like us – then take draconian vengeance on others

Anyone who saw Philip Seymour Hoffman in the film A Late Quartet could sense an accident on its way to happening. We now know that the actor and the tortured violinist he portrayed were close to the same person. Acting is a dangerous calling, pushing its practitioners back and forth over the border of unreality.

Hoffman's death has been universally greeted as a trage...