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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Mood changes as MPs break ranks Anne Perkins, political correspondent The Guardian Saturday 07 Jul 2001 Author: Anne Perkins, political correspondent The mood on cannabis legalisation has been transformed. After 30 years of imperceptible progress, two ex-cabinet ministers have backed the idea within a week. Yesterday it was Peter Lilley. Last Sunday Mo Mowlam, who as Cabinet Office minister was responsible for drug policy until the election, called the current level of debate "a farce". She said there was confusion and hypocrisy when police in Brixton adopted a low-key approach while other forces applied the law, and when court penalties varied widely. She called for the wholesale legalisation and regulation of the cannabis trade. Three years ago, even to admit to youthful experiments with dope was a passport to newspaper shame. There was media excitement when a Tory backbencher, David Prior - son of former cabinet minister Jim - confirmed that in his 20s he had found cannabis "relaxing". When the Liberal Democrat conference voted for a royal commission, the leadership was furious at the embarrassment. But the mood was changing. The survey that uncovered Mr Prior's past also found that two-thirds of MPs wanted a royal commission. The government promised to review the use of the drug for therapeutic purposes. In March last year the Police Foundation published the results of its own inquiry, chaired by Lady Runciman. It found that penalties for pos sessing cannabis did more damage that the drug itself and said people should no longer be sent to prison for possession. But the government flatly rejected the findings, saying it had "a clear and consistent view about the damage which drugs can cause to individuals, their families and the wider community, the link between drugs and crime, and the corresponding need to maintain firm controls". Less than a year ago Ann Widdecombe, the shadow home secretary, used the Tory party conference to call for a policy of zero tolerance towards cannabis use. But her initiative rapidly turned out to be a solo mission, greeted with derision - and the admission from several shadow cabinet ministers that they had indulged. This year a House of Lords committee called for research into cannabis use to be speeded up. Mr Lilley's call for legalisation moves the campaign, which has been slowly gathering pace for nearly 10 years, into a different league. A Commons motion calling for "cannabis cafes" got just 25 signatures last year. But its sponsor, the Labour MP Paul Flynn, believes the Brixton experiment is de facto legalisation. Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, welcomed Mr Lilley's pamphlet and announced a policy review for the autumn: "We will be looking at all aspects of drugs policy in a wide-ranging, no-holds- barred report."
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