THERE IS NO PLAN TO CHANGE LAW, SAYS DOWNING STREET

Downing Street has quashed suggestions that Tony Blair is preparing to
relax the law on cannabis use.

Less than 24 hours after David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, called for an
"adult, intelligent, debate" on the issue, the Prime Minister's spokesman
insisted that there was no change of policy in the pipeline. And whereas Mr
Blunkett solicited contributions to thoughtful dialogue, No. 10 appeared
markedly less interested in joining in.

Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "There's clearly a debate going on
about cannabis, and that's fine."

Striking a notably different tone from the Home Secretary, the spokesman
said: "Of course there's always room for different debates in any
democracy. We are perfectly relaxed about that. But often when people say
they are calling for a debate, that's shorthand for saying they want to
legalise cannabis. But the Government's policy remains. There are no plans
to decriminalise cannabis."

The firm comments were designed to halt any suggestions that ministers were
prepared to loosen Britain's drug laws, following recent high-profile calls
for a review. Mo Mowlam, the former Cabinet Office Minister, and Keith
Hellawell, the Government's anti-drugs co-ordinator, have both accepted in
recent weeks that cannabis does not necessarily lead to the use of harder
drugs.

Mr Blunkett's comments on Sunday appeared to chime with a more open-minded
approach to the drugs laws when he said that he was interested in the
current debate. He said that he would not change policy "out of the blue"
but was interested in hearing contributions, a note sufficiently divergent
from his predecessor, Jack Straw, to suggest that there had been a change
in government thinking.

Downing Street took any momentum out of the issue by insisting that Mr
Blunkett had not been out of line with government thinking. "What David was
saying was, of course, there's room for a debate. But it's a bit of a leap
to go from there to say that the Government plans to change the drugs laws.
We don't," a spokesman said.

He stopped short of guaranteeing that there would be no changes introduced
in drugs laws during the lifetime of the current Parliament, but instead
repeated the official line that there would be no move without new
scientific evidence to back up any future relaxation.

The spokesman said that nothing said so far has changed the view that "the
drugs laws as they are drawn up are right".