Carlisle Racecourse, near the border between England and Scotland, is not usually regarded as one of the world's great centres of progressive thought. It is not even one of the great centres of British horse racing. But in a hospitality room there in June, the director of public health for Cumbria, Professor John Ashton, startled a room full of local delegates at a conference entitled "Tackling Drugs, Changing Lives" by calling for total legalisation. "The war on drugs has failed," he said. "We need to think differently." He said that heroin, and everything else now banned, should be available over the counter in chemists' shops. [continues 2967 words]
Americans are now telling pollsters they feel safer after the sack of Baghdad, and are evidently starting to believe the war on terror is being won. Hold that thought a moment while we consider the state of play in the other concept-war: the one on drugs. It is 42 years since the UN set out to eradicate the use of illegal drugs, with results that we see all around us: the last marijuana smoker races the last speaker of Scots-Gaelic towards extinction; redundant cocaine dealers beg pathetically on the streets; the scourge of heroin has been banished forever from the planet. [continues 676 words]
It is the American equivalent of the snowdrops. Though the northern cities are still being pinched raw by snow and ice, there is this faint waft of warm southerly breeze in the papers - news of baseball spring training. In frost-free Florida and Arizona, the players have gathered in the sunshine to prepare themselves for the season, which starts at the end of March. But in this sombre and frigid winter, even this happy harbinger of summer has come draped in black. [continues 697 words]
Beyond the crisis, life in America goes on - though it never makes the news bulletins any more. After five columns on the war, this is a story about the great state of Maryland. However, even this one turns out to have a terrorist connection, of which more later. First, I have to tell you that anyone resident in Maryland for 30 days requires a state driving licence. I discovered this by working backwards. I am currently resident in Maryland. I hoped to buy a car. To do this I needed insurance. [continues 721 words]
The Ludicrous Laws On Cannabis Must Be Changed To Reflect Reality On the Today programme yesterday morning, Jack Cunningham, who - for the next few days at least - is the minister for the cabinet office, re-affirmed that the government was "not persuaded" by the arguments in favour of legalisation of cannabis. It is a fine phrase, "not persuaded", although when used by a minister, it may be taken to mean the government was not open to persuasion in the first place. [continues 756 words]
