CALL TO LEGALISE CANNABIS REJECTED

Lilley's comments have reignited the cannabis debate Downing Street says it
will not change its policy on cannabis despite a former Conservative
cabinet minister throwing open the debate on legalising the drug.

Former Tory deputy leader Peter Lilley called on Friday for the drug to be
made legal, arguing the current law is "unenforceable and indefensible".

While drug pressure groups welcomed the comments and the growing debate on
cannabis, the government said its policy to keep the ban remained unchanged.

Former cabinet minister Mr Lilley believes one of the biggest handicaps of
the Tories' general election campaign was the perception that the party's
policies were negative and punitive.

He is the most senior politician to come out in favour of legalising the
drug, although former Cabinet Office Minister Mo Mowlam has called for it
to be decriminalised.

Downing Street said people were free to express their views. It knew there
was a debate but the government had made its view clear.

"Cannabis is dangerous, it does cause medical problems, cancer,
hallucinations - therefore the position has not changed," the prime
minister's official spokesman said on Friday.

Mr Lilley told BBC News earlier: "We are forcing cannabis users into the
arms of hard drugs pushers. It is that link I wish to break."

The Conservative Party needed to reach out to young people and those from
ethnic minorities, who came up against this law and knew it was "ridiculous".

Widdecombe's Warning

Those on the authoritarian wing of the party have already moved to oppose
his ideas.

Shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe warned it was unlikely drug barons
would "go home" if cannabis was legalised.

"It's far more likely that they would put a huge amount of their effort
into marketing hard drugs and probably targeting ever younger age groups."

Rethink

Under Mr Lilley's proposals - set out in a Social Market Foundation
pamphlet - magistrates could licence outlets selling cannabis to over-18s.

There would be limits on the amount sold and the drug would be taxed and
carry a health warning.

Cultivation for personal use would be permitted.

Mr Lilley wants the candidates for the Tory leadership to make their
positions clear on the issue - something they had begun to do on BBC1's
Question Time on Thursday.

Shadow chancellor Michael Portillo said the Tories had to be prepared to
engage in a debate about calls for the legalisation of cannabis.

The arguments were finely balanced on both sides and the party had to be
"open to new thinking", he said.

Not Authoritarian Monsters

Another leadership hopeful, Iain Duncan Smith, said: "Let's not immediately
leap to conclusions that those who do not want to liberalise it are
monsters of authoritarian nature.

"They are just people who want to protect their families."

Michael Ancram, Ken Clarke and David Davis said they too currently opposed
legalisation but were willing to have a debate on the issue.

Mr Clarke told BBC News on Friday "an alternative, slightly druggie
lifestyle" had emerged from relaxing cannabis law in Amsterdam and
Kingston, Jamaica, which he did not want to see in Britain.

He dismissed the suggestion the issue could cause a split in the party.

Charity Support

Drugs charity Release welcomed Mr Lilley's comments, saying the debate on
cannabis has come on "in leaps and bounds" in recent months.

And Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes said his party
would be looking at all aspects of drugs policy in a "wide-ranging, no
holds barred" report likely to suggest changes.

But former Labour Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien rejected the
legalisation calls and accused Mr Lilley of encouraging people to use
cannabis - something the Tory MP has denied.