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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Agency chief 'too scared to debate dope'
Ian Swanson, Scottish Political Editor Edinburgh Eveniung News
Monday 04 Feb 2002 THE head of Scotland's official drugs agency was today accused of "running scared" of a debate on cannabis after he pulled out of a magazine head-to-head with a leading MSP. Alistair Ramsay, director of Scotland Against Drugs, was lined up to take part in an exchange of letters with the SNP's Margo MacDonald as part of a regular feature in Holyrood magazine. The plan was for each of them to write a total of three letters, answering the points the other raised. Mr Ramsay penned his reply to Ms MacDonald's first letter, but after he saw her second epistle he told the magazine he was too busy to write any more. And he said he did not believe the format of the exchange was the best way of dealing with the complex issues surrounding drugs. Ms MacDonald, who has called for an independent commission to look into drug laws in Scotland, today accused Mr Ramsay of running scared after bringing a halt to the debate. She claimed he had taken exception to the content of her second letter, in which she compared the treatment of cannabis users with those who took alcohol and tobacco. Ms MacDonald said impending changes in the Government approach to drugs left SAD - which last year had its funding increased by 50 per cent to 4.5 million pounds over the next three years - without a clear strategy. Home Secretary David Blunkett has already announced cannabis could be reclassified. And Deputy Justice Minister Richard Simpson has promised a new "realistic" communications strategy on drugs in March. Ms MacDonald said: "Alistair Ramsay's failure to engage in debate with me suggests SAD doesn't know what it's doing. He gives the excuse he was too busy to get something written in a fortnight. Given the money spent on SAD, if he had been given 24 hours to produce 400 words he should have been able to do so. It's because there is not a strategy." Mr Ramsay today claimed he had not been told he was expected to write any more than one letter, a claim denied by the magazine. He also said he was unhappy about the format. He said: "This is no way to conduct a debate on a serious issue about drugs. I would never have entered into this if I had realised it was supposed to be a back and forwards debate." But he denied he was running scared. "I'm more than happy to take part in a public debate where all interests are represented," he said. "I am not afraid to give contributions to the media and I have no intention to change that." He also rejected the claim that his organisation had no strategy. SAD was set up in 1996 by then Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth with the support of all the party leaders in Scotland, but in 1998 the organisation was "refocused". Mr Ramsay said: "The role is now to act as a catalyst to encourage local communities to take action on issues and initiatives they want. "We also broker finance from the business community in Scotland to match the funding given to us by the Scottish Executive." He said in the past few years SAD had handed out 6.1m pounds to 316 projects. Mr Ramsay said even if cannabis was reclassified from a class B drug to class C, possession would still carry a possible jail sentence of up to two years, compared with the current maximum of five years. And he said cannabis was now being linked with emphysema and the early onset of lung cancer. A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "SAD has an important role within our drugs strategy following a fundamental change in its remit. It develops and supports a range of successful anti-drugs initiatives at a national and local level, such as a drugs education website for children being launched today." The spokesman said the new communications strategy would stress that all drug misuse is dangerous and the risk to health was also being taken into account in the review of the classification of cannabis. But he added: "Our overall focus will remain on tackling the drugs which do the most harm." Paul Hutcheon, acting editor of Holyrood magazine, insisted Mr Ramsay had been aware of the format when he agreed to take part. He said: "We regret the debate was not completed, but look forward to work with SAD and Margo MacDonald in the future."
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