PORTILLO PUT ON SPOT BY LILLEY CANNABIS PLAN

THE stance taken by Michael Portillo on soft drugs came under fresh
scrutiny yesterday after one of his allies called for cannabis to be legalised.

Peter Lilley, the former Tory Deputy Leader, said the drug should be sold
with a health warning in small amounts to anyone over 18 from licensed
outlets. Mr Lilley, the first senior Tory to call for a liberalisation of
the drugs regime, worked closely with Mr Portillo in Government and is
backing his bid for the leadership.

His remarks set Mr Portillo's position in stark contrast to that shared by
all his opponents in the race for the Tory crown. Michael Ancram, David
Davis, Kenneth Clarke and Iain Duncan Smith all said this week that they
opposed the legalisation of cannabis while accepting the need for a debate
on the issue.

Mr Portillo, speaking on BBC's Question Time on Thursday night, said he had
not made up his mind on the issue. "He arguments on both sides are finely
balanced, and I think they are complicated," he said. "But a Conservative
Party that I led would certainly be happy to address those issues. We
should be the party that is open to new thinking."

Tory MPs said privately that this position allowed Mr Portillo to appeal to
ordinary people by appearing radical on the issue without actually
committing himself. They added, however, that he would have to make his
position more clear during the election contest or risk alienating more
traditional Tory members.

Mr Lilley, in a pamphlet for the Social Market Foundation think tank, said
the strict legalisation of cannabis would make it less of a so- called
"gateway drug" to harder substances. He also suggested a Tory change of
policy on the issue would help the party demonstrate its openness to new
ideas. Ann Widdecombe, the Shadow Home Secretary, said that legalisation
would encourage drug barons to push even more hard drugs.

Kenneth Clarke, the former Home Secretary, said he was "not persuaded" of
the benefits of legalisation. He told BBC News 24 "I have been to
Amsterdam, where that is the policy, and to Kingston, Jamaica, where it is
used by a large section of the population, and it is visible and obvious
that an alternative, slightly druggy lifestyle is being lived in parts of
those cities which I am not at all sure I want to see introduced to this
country."

David Davis, another leadership contender, repeated his opposition to
legalisation but added: "Britain's law is clearly not working and we should
have a debate about the issue."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said that the Government's
opposition to the legalisation of cannabis remained unchanged.

There is substantial support for the decriminalisation of cannabis within
the Scottish Parliament. Theoretically, MSPs have the power to allow
Amsterdam-style coffee houses north of the border.

Margo MacDonald, the Scottish Nationalist MSP, yesterday resubmitted her
motion calling for a review of cannabis use in Scotland. When she first
tabled her motion in November 1999, it attracted support from 45 MSPs from
all political parties.