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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Ministers talk tough on cannabis Patrick Hennessy This Is London Monday 09 Jul 2001 Senior Cabinet ministers remain opposed to legalising cannabis today despite suggestions from Home Secretary David Blunkett that he was open-minded on the issue. Mr Blunkett's call for an "adult, intelligent debate" on the subject was seen by many at Westminster as a hint of a change in policy from the hardline stance advocated by his predecessor, Jack Straw. But a large majority of Cabinet ministers remain opposed to decriminalising the drug. Only one, Labour party chairman Charles Clarke, admits to having smoked it. He said he had tried cannabis "a couple of times in my late teens". But as Home Office Minister earlier this year, Mr Clarke rejected Lady Runciman's report which called for a relaxation of the law, claiming it would be "deleterious to the public interest". Apart from Mr Straw, the strongest opposition to legalising cannabis is taken by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who has said: "I am a hardliner against drugs." Most senior figures echo Gordon Brown in claiming they have never taken cannabis or "any illegal drug", although some have adopted more liberal stances towards their own department's policies. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, for example, is said to be likely to back recommendations easing the army's iron rules against drug taking. Education Secretary Estelle Morris, when Schools Minister in 1998, suggested that pupils caught with small amounts of cannabis should no longer be routinely expelled. The biggest Labour name to endorse legalising cannabis is, of course, Mo Mowlam, one of very few senior party figures to admit having smoked it. However, she left the Government at last month's election. Younger members of Mr Blair's ministerial ranks are thought to be pushing for reform but, again, hardly any admit to a drug-taking past. Public Health Minister Yvette Cooper, 35, did so last year - but her example was not followed by colleagues. In the shadow cabinet, the position is much clearer after the debacle of shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe's forced U-turn on plans for £100 on-the-spot fines for anyone caught with cannabis. The party's official policy is still to oppose legalisation but seven shadow cabinet members - Francis Maude, Archie Norman, Lord Strathclyde, Peter Ainsworth, Bernard Jenkin, David Willetts and Oliver Letwin - used the aftermath of Miss Widdecombe's humiliation to admit having used cannabis in the past. Michael Portillo, favourite to succeed William Hague as Tory leader, hinted at a shift in policy when he said his party had to be "open to new ideas". However, other candidates, including Kenneth Clarke, David Davis and Iain Duncan Smith, opposed last week's call by former Tory deputy leader Peter Lilley for cannabis to be made legal. Charles Kennedy is the first mainstream party leader to say be believes the drug should be decriminalised with recreational use made, at most, a civil offence. The Liberal Democrats, however, would appoint a Royal Commission to evaluate the issue fully. Mr Blunkett has said: "There is room for an adult, intelligent debate. It is not 'Are you for or are you against?'. It is 'Let's think, let's consider, let's not be pushed by articles in newspapers or hysteria. I have no intention of making a change in Government policy out of the blue and if I have anything further to say on the issue I will do so in a considered fashion in my own time." Tony Blair has indicated that, while he is happy for there to be a debate, he is convinced that cannabis should remain illegal. An NOP opinion poll has found a small majority of the public opposed to legalisation, by 51 per cent to 37 per cent.
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