DIVIDED OVER DECRIMINALISATION

For

Mo Mowlam, former Labour Cabinet Office minister responsible for drug
policy. In favour of the legalisation of cannabis, regulated with
government-tested products taxed in the same way as alcohol and tobacco and
the money raised used to fund the NHS

Lady (Helena) Kennedy QC, barrister and broadcaster. Thinks time has come
to decriminalise and that senior police officers and practitioners at the
Bar are of the same view

Paul Flynn, MP. Believes the time is right for possession and cultivation
to be decriminalised with penalties for trafficking only against
importation from outside Britain

Francis Wilkinson, former chief constable of Gwent police. Launched a
pamphlet which suggested that the drug should be sold to people aged 18 and
over in off-licences, in the same way as cigarettes

Charles Kennedy, Liberal Democrat leader. Supports decriminalisation. Has
called for a royal commission

Professor Donald Macleod, principal, Free Church College. Believes cannabis
should be downgraded from class B and might be made fully legal

Against

Kenneth Clarke, Tory former home secretary. Has said cannabis is "more
intoxicating than alcohol and more carcinogenic than tobacco"

John Prescott, deputy prime minister. Has always been a hardliner on drugs
and believes that the use of cannabis leads to the use of other drugs

British Medical Association. In favour of looking at research into
cannabinoids to see how they can be used safely and effectively for medical
use, but against legalising drug for recreational use because of the health
risks

Tony Blair, prime minister. Believes decriminalisation would send out the
wrong message to children

Jack Straw, foreign secretary. Believes cannabis is more carcinogenic than
tobacco and wrote a pamphlet in 1967 against its legalisation

Lord Tebbit, former Tory chairman. Believes a zero tolerance approach to
drugs is the only approach