Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 Source: Times, The (UK) Copyright: 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd Contact: http://www.the-times.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/454 Author: Melissa Kite, Political Correspondent DUNCAN SMITH'S DRUGS VISIT BACKFIRES An attempt by Iain Duncan Smith to draw attention to the Conservatives' hard line on drugs with a visit to Brixton in South London backfired yesterday when he was jeered by community workers handpicked by party officials. The Tory leader had intended to demonstrate the strength of opposition to plans to be announced by David Blunkett today to downgrade cannabis and put it in the same category as steroids and anti-depressants. Mr Duncan Smith told reporters before his visit that the "softly, softly" attitude to the drug, which had been police policy in South London since last July, had left the people of Brixton feeling betrayed and used. When he arrived at Brixton Baptist Church, it did not look as if the assembled group would disagree. Arranged in a small circle in the ante-room of the church were seven elderly women, two women under 60 -- one of them a vicar -- and a male youth worker. Unfortunately, several of the women admitted that they did not know who Mr Duncan Smith was, while the youth worker turned out to be a Liberal Democrat Party member and a convinced advocate of the soft drugs policy that Mr Duncan Smith had come to criticise. To make matters worse, when Mr Duncan Smith began to speak, Shane Collins, the Green Party's drugs spokesman, shouted abuse from the back of the room as Tory officials struggled to silence him. Mr Duncan Smith said: "This is not a party political issue. It is an issue that affects everyone of all parties." But the youth worker, Huey Rose, 32, told him: "Why have you been so late to come down to Brixton? What is the Conservative Party's intention coming here now? "Why didn't you come before, why didn't you come and meet with the black community? Many times when black people have cried out to the Conservative Party there has not been a listening ear for the black youth." There were shouts and gestures of approval from the more elderly members of the group when Mr Rose said: "Police time is being wasted -- they are spending three or four hours on a cannabis suspect when they could be concentrating on the harder drugs." Mr Duncan Smith was accompanied by Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Home Secretary, who was one of eight shadow ministers two years ago to admit that they had experimented with cannabis in their youth. Mr Letwin drew a blank when he questioned the assembled group. He asked one mother: "Have you come across a situation where young people go from soft to hard drugs." She replied: "No, that doesn't happen." After twenty minutes, the television cameras and reporters were asked to leave. Mr Duncan Smith said: "It is a bit restricting to have the press around." Afterwards, Mr Duncan Smith insisted that the people he had met had supported his policy of a tougher line on cannabis dealing. "My point is it is quite wrong, surely, to hand over your drugs policy to criminal youths on the streets," he said. Mr Blunkett's expected announcement on cannabis was criticised by a senior Labour peer yesterday. Lord Warner, the chairman of the Youth Justice Board, said that the Government had failed to explain the long-term danger to health posed by the drug. He said that the health implications of cannabis use had not been debated as much as they should be. Lord Warner published a report which said that half of young offenders had used the drug, and that availability of drugs was an important factor leading to youth offending. "I would hope that the medical evidence on prolonged use of cannabis could be put more in the public arena and debated more," he said. "Cannabis is in large part a health issue, and what are the longer-term consequences of many of those youngsters taking large amounts of cannabis during their development years?" - --- MAP posted-by: Beth