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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Editorial: Clouding The Issue On Cannabis
Sunday Times
Sunday 15 Oct 2000 Website: http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/ CLOUDING THE ISSUE ON CANNABIS Tony Blair yesterday chose to steer the debate on cannabis away from the issue of whether or not politicians smoked a joint or two at university, or still do so on the quiet. But he ended up creating yet further confusion about whether the law should be enforced. Our NOP poll today shows that public opinion is evenly divided on whether or not the government should take a tougher line on marijuana. Only one in five people thinks the eight Conservative frontbenchers who admitted smoking pot years ago were wrong to do so. With responses like that clouding the issue (almost literally), Ann Widdecombe's punitive approach to users - as opposed to dealers - is best forgotten. Criminal law needs overwhelming public support to be effective; a confused attitude to the rights and wrongs of so-called soft drugs, with chief constables advocating tolerance and the Queen being publicly presented (without knowing it) with an illegal plant, bodes ill for tougher legislation. The prime minister evidently shares the public's muddled attitude about the seriousness of the offence of having cannabis for personal use. Asked if ministers were free to smoke pot if they wanted to, he ducked the issue. His comment that "it is up to people to do what they want to do" could not have been more libertarian. He underlined that by saying he would prefer his children not to have anything to do with drugs, but that he might be wrong, and other parents might feel differently. In other words he believes it is an individual's decision and, implicitly, it has very little to do with the law. England and Wales already have more cannabis smokers per head of population than any other country in the European Union. The EU drugs agency said last week that Britain also has the largest number of young users, with two out of five 15 and 16-year-olds admitting to having experimented with it. That does not necessarily turn them into lifelong users, but it does show the enormous scale of usage and an ignorance about some of the medical dangers associated with excessive use of cannabis. Many police chiefs already regard pot users as technical offenders not worth prosecuting. Mr Blair has effectively given them his support. He still rules out decriminalisation but the boundaries of tolerance are shifting. Drug opponents will be asking: what next?
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