|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
Straw warns against relaxing drug laws George Jones Telegraph Tuesday 10 Oct 2000 JACK STRAW said yesterday that he would welcome a debate on the legalisation of cannabis but held out little prospect that the Government was ready to relax the law on possession of soft drugs. The Home Secretary promised that medical use of cannabis compounds to alleviate the suffering of those with conditions such as multiple sclerosis would be legalised if trials currently under way showed it to be effective. But he warned that scientific factors about the effects of cannabis should be borne in mind when considering decriminalising its use. His comments came after an eighth member of the shadow cabinet, Tim Yeo, the agriculture spokesman, admitted having smoked - and enjoyed - cannabis. He angered the Tory leadership with his admission. It caused fresh embarrassment at a time when party managers had hoped to defuse the controversy the zero tolerance policy on drug possession announced by Ann Widdecombe last week. Mr Yeo said: "It can be much pleasanter than having too much to drink." Seven other members of the shadow cabinet - Peter Ainsworth, Francis Maude, Lord Strathclyde, Bernard Jenkin, David Willets, Archie Norman and Oliver Letwin - have admitted to experimenting with the drug but Mr Yeo was the only one to have said he enjoyed it. Mr Straw, who has taken a hard line against legalising cannabis, said he had never used the drug. His son William was cautioned in 1998 for selling cannabis to an undercover journalist. He said the row over Miss Widdecombe's plan for £100 fines for possession of even a small amount of cannabis showed the Conservatives were unfit to govern. He described her proposals as "mad" because they did not recognise the proportionate damage caused by different illegal drugs. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that cannabis could have very severe short-term and long-term effects. "The long-term effects include a very severe exacerbation of mental illness and also include cancer. It is reckoned that cannabis is between two and four times as carcinogenic as tobacco." Legalisation of cannabis would mean the consumption of a harmful drug would increase and people would then ask: "Why have you done this? It has made us more unhealthy." John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, said yesterday: "I am a hardliner on drugs. I think cannabis leads to use of other drugs and I am against that." During a visit to Peckham, south London, an area that has suffered drug problems, he said: "I have seen what it does, both in my 10 years at sea and on the estates in my constituency, so I am not very tolerant of that." The Government came under pressure from its backbenchers to hold a "grown-up debate" about the legalisation of cannabis. Martin Salter, Reading West, said there should be a Royal Commission on how resources were allocated to fight drug abuse. He said: "I would rather have a drugs policy looking at drugs that kill rather than criminalising 6,000,000 people who use cannabis." Paul Flynn, Newport West, who has long campaigned for a more liberal approach to cannabis, said he despaired of the Government's attitude. "Public opinion is ahead of the political cowardice that has been shown by Labour ministers. MPs who tell the truth about drugs are the ones who will have respect," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One programme.
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!