CANNABIS gran Pat Tabram, who used to cook drug-laced casseroles for her neighbours, was ahead of her times, a friend has said after her death.

Ms Tabram hit the headlines when her house was repeatedly raided by police after they were tipped off about the savoury smells and activities coming from her bungalow near Hexham, Northumberland.

In her kitchen she would cook up home-made herbal cookies, casseroles and soups, all with the special ingredient for her friends, who she said she was medicating.

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SIR The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, claims that our "tough" drugs control policy is failing and advocates a "smarter" approach, abolishing prison sentences for drug addicts and concentrating on treatment.

These and other policies dealing with offenders are not working as well as they should because of the dithering of our political leaders with regards to punishment, treatment and rehabilitation.

Drug addicts and abusers should not be left out in society to fend for themselves. Some kind of custodial remedy must apply, whether it be in prison or a secure hospital. If they go back to drugs when they are released, they should be returned to custody.

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Almost Half of American States Have Taken Steps to Legalise Cannabis. the Federal Government Should Follow

BESIDES choosing lawmakers, on November 4th voters in three American states and the District of Columbia considered measures to liberalise the cannabis trade.

Alaska and Oregon, where it is legal to provide "medical marijuana" to registered patients, voted to go further and let the drug be sold and taken for recreational purposes, as Colorado and Washington state already allow.

In DC, a measure to legalise the possession of small amounts for personal use was passed.

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The Legal Cannabis Industry Is Run by Minnows. As Liberalisation Spreads, That May Not Last

"FRESH and fruity, right?" says a bright-eyed young man behind the counter, wafting an open jar of something called "AK-47" under Schumpeter's nose. "Whereas with this one",-unscrewing another jar, fanning the scent up to his nostrils and closing his eyes in concentration-"I'm getting notes of dill."

Drug dealers aren't what they used to be. In Colorado, which in January became the first place in the world fully to legalise cannabis, buying a joint feels more like visiting a trendy craft-brewery than a drug den. Dispensaries along Denver's "green mile" are packed with young, bearded men earnestly discussing the merits of strains with names like "Bio-Jesus" and "Death Star". Some varieties claim to be inspirational, while others say they promote relaxation, or "couch-lock", as the tokers call it.

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As the Decriminalisation of Drugs Comes Back on the Political Agenda, We Polled Courier Readers on Their Views. Gayle Ritchie Explores the Results

VISIT MOST Sheriff Courts in Scotland on any day of the week and the chances are they will be inundated with people charged with drug offences.

Many, but not all, of these people are repeat offenders, flouting the law time and time again, and wasting taxpayers' money in the process.

Some might argue the laws prohibiting drug use are largely disregarded; the vast majority of drug users shrug their shoulders at the law.

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A Failure to Act on the Evidence of a Drug Policy Report Spurred Baker's Decision to Resign, He Tells Nigel Morris

When Norman Baker closed a landmark Commons debate on drugs last week his final remark - "the genie is out of the bottle and it is not going back in" - had a secret personal significance.

They were to be his final words from the Commons dispatch box.

He had privately told Nick Clegg two months earlier that he wanted to step down from the Government after more than four years, including 12 months trying to get the Liberal Democrat voice heard in the Home Office.

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Following the long-expected outcome of the Home Office report into drugs and punishment, can Professor David Nutt expect apologies from then Home Secretary Alan Johnson for sacking him?

Simon Allen

London N2

[end]

OK, Clegg, posturing over now get practical. Decriminalise cannabis. Sell licences for every postal address which wants one to grow up to six plants. Then get together with the cigarette manufacturers to produce a decent packeted joint say UKP8 per 20 and sell that as a state monopoly.

Play your cards right and you'll double the annual UKP11bn tax yield already contributed by tobacco smokers, put street dealers progressively out of business and reduce a lot of petty crime. And on the health and safety pitch, cannabis users will at last know what they're buying. (Not one myself - doesn't do a damn thing for me.)

Richard Humble

Exeter

[end]

As always, what is missing from the current debate about drugs is any discussion about why we take them in the first place. We are rightly concerned that everyone, especially our children, should be educated about the potential ill-effects of drugs and the possible health dangers. But unless we acknowledge that there are legitimate and positive reasons why a person might seek to get high, the "war against drugs" will not make much progress.

Humans have been using "recreational" drugs for millennia, and for most people it is generally a positive experience. There are dangers of course - but these are mainly associated with excess use and poor quality.

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IT is time Britain started to treat drug addiction as an illness rather than a criminal offence ("Cameron slaps down Clegg over calls to relax the drug laws", October 31).

Putting people in jail for an illness instead of giving them the proper medical treatment they need isn't just counterproductive, it is also many times more expensive.

Not only that, custodial sentences do nothing to help the addict's problems and only make matters worse.

You wouldn't put an alcoholic in prison so why jail a drug addict?

Jennifer May,

Sunderland

[end]

THE war on drugs hasn't succeeded and we need fresh ideas on how to tackle the problem.

But that's not to say we should legalise drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and heroin. That would be foolish and dangerous.

David Cameron is right to say that decriminalising recreational drugs would send out the wrong message to our children.

Drugs leave a trail of misery wherever they are found.

If anything, there should be stiffer penalties for convicted drug dealers and users. Nick Clegg is naive to call for laws to be relaxed.

James Clark,

Bristol

[end]

Brian Dalton (letter, 30 October) is right to believe that we are sleepwalking into Ukip having a say in the next government. We are likely to get to this position on a very low turnout because, as Conservatives and Labour have identical policies, and we don't want to vote for minor party, there is nothing we can vote for.

The first question on last night's Question Time demonstrated the dilemma we face. The Home Office has produced a report suggesting the hard line on drugs is ineffective. Many believe (myself included) that while drug dealers should get stiff prison sentences those merely possessing and taking drugs should be treated as victims rather than criminals, in the same way that the police should treat abused 13-year-old girls as victims and not prostitutes.

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My blood boils when I hear loony liberal politicians (I'm thinking Nick Clegg) and middle class do-gooders telling us that ALL drugs should be legalised. That heroin, crack cocaine and LSD should all be freely available - even to teenagers.

Their argument is that if the State was in charge of the drugs industry instead of criminal gangs then the drugs wouldn't be toxic and fewer people would die.

And there'll be more of that silly talk in the coming weeks thanks to a Home Office report trumpeted by Clegg - which claims punitive laws have no effect on curbing drug use.

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A Psychology of Macho Law-Making Steers Policy - in Defiance of Public Opinion and Common Sense

The government should ban all reports on drug legalisation. They get you hooked on rage. Evidence-based reform is a gateway substance to common sense. Just send a message: no thought means no. Parliament's response to this week's report on the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act shows that psychoactive substances are the last taboo to afflict Britain's elite. It has got over past obsessions with whipping, hanging, sodomy and abortion, but it is still stuck on drugs. There is no point in reading the latest research on drugs policy worldwide. It is spitting in the wind. The only research worth doing is on why drugs policy reduces politicians to gibbering wrecks.

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Prime Minister Rejects New Call for Decriminalisation

Lib Dems Condemn Tories' 'Backward-Looking View'

David Cameron yesterday set his face against a change in UK drugs policy after the Liberal Democrat crime-prevention minister Norman Baker hailed a Home Office-commissioned report finding "no obvious" link between tough laws and levels of illegal drug use.

Baker, minister responsible for drugs, said the report meant the genie was out of the bottle and was not going back in. He said: "I think the days of robotic, mindless rhetoric are over, because the facts and the evidence will no longer allow that."

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DAVID Cameron ruled out relaxing Britain's drug laws yesterday, despite Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and Tory MPs calling for a review.

The Prime Minister said the current approach was working and decriminalising "recreational" drugs use would send out the wrong message to the nation's children.

Mr Clegg blasted the current policy as "totally misplaced, outdated and backward" and called on the Prime Minister to "have some courage" and accept that the war on drugs is failing.

Punishments

The Deputy Prime Minister spoke after a Home Office report published yesterday found no evidence that strict punishments for drug takers led to a reduction in the number taking illegal narcotics.

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DAVID CAMERON is refusing Liberal Democrat calls to review the Government's drugs policy, warning that as a parent he does not want to send out the message that taking illegal substances is "OK or safe".

The Prime Minister insisted that the current approach to drugs was having an impact as abuse was falling, following a major Coalition row sparked by a Home Office report backed by the Lib Dems that suggested easing laws on hard drugs would not increase the number of users. Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday attacked the Tory party's "facile" and "frightened" approach to drugs after Downing Street distanced itself from the report. Mr Cameron said yesterday that changing Britain's drugs policy would be "dangerous".

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You'd Expect Drug Use to Go Up - But, Surprisingly, a Major Report Has Found That Sometimes It Actually Drops.

A man lies on the floor in a squalid bedsit, a rubber rope tied around one arm, a needle in his hand. The door bursts open and two armed police officers run in. They take in the scene and swiftly find a bag of powder. What should they do next? The answer depends on the country they're in.

The Home Office has published a major report into drug use across various countries, apparently surprising even itself with the findings. "We did not in our fact-finding observe any obvious relationship between the toughness of a country's enforcement against drug possession, and levels of drug use in that country," the report said.

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DAVID Cameron clashed with Nick Clegg today in a furious Coalition bustup over drugs policy.

In a surprisingly hard-hitting attack on the Liberal Democrats, Downing Street bluntly ruled out a "reckless" move towards decriminalisation. "The Lib-Dem policy would see drug dealers getting off scot-free and send an incredibly dangerous message to young people about the risks of taking drugs," a No 10 source said.

But Deputy Prime Minister Mr Clegg tore into his Coalition partners over a report on international drugs policy which the Lib-Dems claim the Conservatives have sought to suppress.

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Home Office Fact-Finders Reveal Long-Delayed Report Legalisation Policies Do Not Result in Wider Use

The Home Office comparison of international drug laws, published today, represents the first official recognition since the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act that there is no direct link between being "tough on drugs" and tackling the problem.

The report, which has been signed off by both the Conservative home secretary, Theresa May, and the Liberal Democrat crime prevention minister, Norman Baker, is based on an in-depth study of drug laws in 11 countries ranging from the zero-tolerance of Japan to the legalisation of Uruguay.

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