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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Straw: Cannabis debate welcome George Jones BBC Monday 09 Oct 2000 Home Secretary Jack Straw has said he would welcome a debate on whether cannabis should be legalised. But he added he was personally against decriminalising the drug. The political debate about cannabis has continued following the admission by an eighth member of the shadow cabinet that he had smoked the drug. Tory agriculture spokesman Tim Yeo said he had used cannabis infrequently "a long way in the past". Mr Straw said he had never personally used cannabis and the admissions of those shadow cabinet members who had should not affect drugs policy. The government would consider legalising the medical use of cannabis compounds to help those suffering from conditions such as multiple sclerosis, he said. But apart from this, the government was not prepared to decriminalise the use of cannabis. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott added the government would continue to resist calls for decriminalisation or legalisation of cannabis use. Mr Yeo, talking of his cannabis experience, told the Times newspaper: "I was offered it on occasion and enjoyed it. I think it can be a much pleasanter experience than having too much to drink." His statement took the debate into uncharted political waters by his admission of pleasure: "I don't share the view that it was disagreeable. I found it agreeable." His revelation followed those of his party colleagues Peter Ainsworth, Francis Maude, Lord Strathclyde Bernard Jenkin, David Willets, Archie Norman and Oliver Letwin. Tory leader William Hague was forced into a U-turn on Ann Widdecombe's policy of zero tolerance of drugs after the confessions and criticism from police and the government's own drugs czar, Keith Hellawell. Mr Hague put the policy, which includes a mandatory £100 fine for possessing even the smallest amounts, out to consultation. The home secretary said the row showed that the Tories were unfit to govern. Mr Straw's views were challenged by one of his own backbenchers, Paul Flynn, a long-time campaigner for the drug to be legalised. The MP for Newport West said he despaired of the government's closed attitude. He said the only way to get new ideas into the brains of ministers was through a lobotomy, which was "unlikely to happen". Mr Flynn said he had tried every reasonable method to convince the Home Office that its "two basic assumptions about drugs, that prohibition reduces use, and that legalisation increases use, are both falsehoods and can be demonstrated as such". Drugs expert Dame Ruth Runciman said she hoped that Mr Straw might yet be persuaded to reconsider the government's approach. Dame Ruth chaired a recent inquiry into drugs law which recommended that cannabis be downgraded from a class B to a class C drug, though she said Mr Straw did not appear ready to do so. She said cannabis was not harmless, but "in terms of the main criteria of harm, which are mortality, morbidity, relationship with crime, addictiveness... it is less dangerous than all the other main illicit drugs, or than alcohol or tobacco".
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