Pubdate: Mon, 3 Apr 2000
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: 2000 Telegraph Group Limited
Contact:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Author: George Jones, Political Editor

STRAW IS FORCED INTO DRUG DEBATE

THE Government has bowed to demands for a public debate on the drug laws. 
Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, indicated so yesterday while insisting that 
the Government was still firmly opposed to scrapping jail terms for 
possessing cannabis, ecstasy and LSD.

For the first time, Mr Straw publicly acknowledged that there was a 
"coherent argument" in favour of legalising cannabis and the new 
Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, admitted that pursuing 
cannabis users was not a "priority".

The Government has been reluctant to allow a public debate on legalising 
cannabis, fearing that it would dent the tough law and order image Tony 
Blair and Mr Straw have tried to cultivate. But ministers have been 
surprised by the response to last week's report from the Police Foundation, 
which suggested that penalties for illegal drugs should be reduced, even 
though supplying them would remain a serious offence.

It recommended that possession of cannabis should be punishable only by 
cautions or fixed fines. The report was criticised by anti-drug 
campaigners, including the parents of Leah Betts, the teenager who died 
after taking a single ecstasy tablet. Others described it as a "breath of 
fresh air" in view of growing evidence that while Britain has some of the 
toughest drug laws of any major Western country, it has the biggest 
consumption of drugs and the worst addiction rate.

Downing Street was taken aback by the reaction to a leading article in The 
Telegraph, which examined the arguments for legalising cannabis for an 
experimental period. Writing in the News of the World, Mr Straw said he 
welcomed the Police Foundation report and was "always up for a debate" on 
tackling drugs.

Home Office sources later emphasised that Mr Straw would use the debate to 
put across the Government's clear opposition to decriminalising cannabis 
and make the case for keeping the present legal framework. Mr Straw said 
that, although the Police Foundation did not recommend legalising cannabis, 
he accepted that there was a "coherent argument" for doing so.

"This says that cannabis is different in effect from hard drugs such as 
cocaine and heroin and is no more serious in its effects than alcohol and 
tobacco. More people, so the argument goes, die from smoking and more 
crimes are committed because of drink than because of cannabis. The answer, 
therefore, is to legalise and let people make their own decision. This is 
the argument, but I don't agree with it."

Mr Straw accepted that making cannabis legal would not necessarily greatly 
increase addiction to hard drugs. He said: "While it is undoubtedly the 
case that many drug addicts started with cannabis, to claim that taking 
cannabis is bound to lead people into hard drugs has always seemed to me 
far-fetched."

But consumption would rise and the more government tried to choke off 
demand by taxing cannabis, the greater the incentive for smugglers. Britain 
would take over from the Netherlands as the centre for Europe's drug trade. 
Mr Straw confirmed that those found with small amounts of cannabis were 
usually cautioned for a first offence. He also acknowledged that cannabis 
might become a prescription drug for certain conditions.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner made his comments during a 
fact-finding trip to New York. Sir John told reporters: "If the law says 
that cannabis is illegal, then we enforce the laws. If Parliament says it's 
legal, then so be it." In London, "with robberies and murders up, cannabis 
cannot be a priority".

Whitehall officials denied that Mo Mowlam, the Cabinet Office Minister in 
charge of the anti-drugs strategy, had been "gagged". She is said to be 
arguing in Cabinet for a more relaxed stance on soft drugs.
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