Pubdate: Sun, 12 Oct 1997
Source: Independent on Sunday 
Contact: email:   Independent on Sunday, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL
England

Huge majority want cannabis legalised

Government isolated as 80 per cent back our campaign for radical change in
law. 

By Chris Blackhurst and Paul Routledge 

THE overwhelming majority of British people want the personal and medical
use of cannabis to be made legal, according to a poll conducted for the
Independent on Sunday. 

Eighty per cent of the public want the law to be relaxed. Almost half those
polled, 45 per cent, said they were in favour of the current restrictions
being relaxed for those who needed cannabis for medicinal purposes, while
more than one in three, 35 per cent, wanted it to be legally available for
recreational use. The Government's policy of maintaining the status quo,
that all cannabis possession should remain illegal, received the approval
of one in six, 17 per cent. 

In the under 45 age group, the number who believe cannabis should be
available for personal use is an even higher 45 per cent. The belief among
Government ministers and advisers that the Independent on Sunday campaign
to decriminalise cannabis only appeals to middleclass intellectuals is not
borne out by the poll. More than half the workingclass people polled by
MORI for the Independent on Sunday, 55 per cent, thought a debate on a
change in the law was a good idea. 

Another blow to the Government's line that the campaign does not enjoy wide
support was dealt by a phonein poll published in the Laboursupporting
Mirror yesterday, showing its readers voting by nearly two to one in favour
of decriminalisation. 

Ministers' increasing isolation on the issue is illustrated by this
morning's MORI poll. Almost six out of 10 Tories, 59 per cent, are in
favour of a debate as are seven out of 10, 68 per cent, of the Government's
own Labour supporters. 

Last week's unprecedented call by Lord Bingham, the Lord Chief Justice, for
an open debate on legalising cannabis  to the embarrassment of ministers
who have so far refused to have the issue aired in Parliament, let alone
agree to a change in the law  met with approval from nearly twothirds of
the public, 64 per cent. MORI conducted the poll across Britain on Thursday
afternoon, after Lord Bingham had made his widely reported remarks on
Wednesday. 

There are signs that the Government may be preparing to rethink its drugs
strategy. One of the first tasks of the new "Drugs Tsar", Keith Hellawell,
Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, whose appointment is expected to be
announced early this week, is to rewrite the policy statement, Tackling
Drugs Together. 

A new approach will be put to the Ministerial Committee on Drug Abuse,
chaired by Ann Taylor, Leader of the Commons. Mrs Taylor last week visited
France and Holland to investigate at firsthand the way other European
countries handle the issue. She spent some time in an Amsterdam coffee
shop, where limited amounts of cannabis for recreational use are legally on
sale. 

Mr Hellawell is likely to have as his deputy Mike Trace, director of the
Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners' Trust. Mr Trace is an expert on drug
abuse in prisons and his appointment reflects the Government's desire to
combat drugs and concern over the size of Mr Hellawell's workload.

Another way to ease Mr Hellawell's burden would be to decriminalise
cannabis. However, Downing Street sources continue to insist that is "not
on the agenda". Backbench Labour MPs are urging ministers to broaden the
policy review to allow consideration of legal use  particularly in the
medical field. Health Secretary Frank Dobson told a television audience
last week he would consider making cannabis legal, through a doctor's
prescription, for sufferers of illnesses such as multiple sclerosis. 

Brian Iddon, MP for Bolton SouthEast and a leading academic in the field
of organic chemistry, is to ask the Government to go further and set up a
fullscale inquiry  ideally a Royal Commission  to consider radical
measures to meet the challenges of Britain's "drug culture". He is to meet
Home Office minister George Howarth on 26 October, the day Parliament
reassembles, for talks on the Government's attitude to cannabis. 

The Labour MP supports the "medicalisation" of cannabis so the drug could
be sold over the counter by licensed chemists, with a warning about the
possible side effects. "People have all kinds of choices in life," said Mr
Iddon. "Why should they not be allowed to smoke cannabis, with proper
procedures in place to warn them about the risks?"