LABOUR MP TO CALL FOR CANNABIS LEGALISATION

A Labour backbencher sacked by Tony Blair is due to bring in a
private bill to legalise cannabis by the end of the year. Jon Owen
Jones, a former whip and junior Welsh office minister, has
cross-party support for his plan, which will highlight the divisions
between liberals and authoritarians within the Labour party.

The home secretary David Blunkett has called for an "adult debate" on
the legal status of soft drugs, but critics fear the government is
stonewalling whilst public support for a rethink is ignored.

Mr Jones, who revealed last year he had both smoked marijuana and
enjoyed it as a young man, said: "This is a call for legalisation,
not just decriminalisation, because that option leaves open too many
dichotomies.

"The UK has the most coercive laws in Europe on cannabis, yet the
highest usage. It is time to acknowledge the war on drugs is just not
winnable."

The MP, who's Cardiff Central constituency includes a high proportion
of University students, said his mind was made up to use his private
members bill to call for cannabis legalisation after seeing the film
Traffic.

That movie shows how billions of dollars worth of US law enforcement
merely reduces the competition for the drugs barons, rather than
stamping out the consumption.

Mr Jones added: "When I was a young man smoking cannabis I thought
politicians who wanted to keep it illegal were hypocritical but naive.

"Now, with everyone either knowing someone who's used cannabis, or
used it themselves, I just think young people will see politicians as
simply hypocritical."

The first reading of the bill will take place today, although a full
debate is not scheduled until October or November. As a private
members bill it stands little chance of becoming law, but is bound to
reopen the ongoing debate over the state's attitude to soft and hard
drugs.

Belgium recently joined Denmark, Portugal and the Netherlands in
effectively decriminalising personal possession of cannabis.

In Britain unlikely allies of the 'Legalise It' movement of the 1960s
have come in the form of Conservative MPs Peter Lilley and Alan
Duncan, as well as more traditional campaigners within Labour and
Liberal Democrat ranks.

Mr Jones added: "Now is not the time for specifying the fine detail
of sales points and retail, but the purpose of legalisation as
opposed to decriminalisation is to iron out the wrinkle in the law
regarding who supplies the retailers.

"It would also be a major factor in cutting the emerging gun culture
in this country, which is fuelled by the violence of street drug
dealers protecting their patches."