I DON'T WANT MY KIDS TO USE DRUGS LIKE I DID

AS A former Rastafarian I have suffered my share of racial prejudice
and abuse. I have also suffered from what those in the race relations
industry call negative stereotyping. When I started competeing as a
sportsman I was given the following warning by an old friend: 'People
will take one look at you and they will expect you to smoke ganja.

'They will be looking out for you to do so. And if you are foolish
enough ever to get caught, they will hang you out to dry.'

It was a well-meant warning but an unnecessary one. In spite of my
appearance and my former beliefs, I don't do drugs. I have never taken
cocaine or heroin or crack or ecstasy or acid, and I would give my
kids a very hard time indeed if I caught them messing with drugs.

I confess that I smoked ganja, weed, dope - call it what you will - in
my Rastafarian days. Lots of it. We smoked it as part of religious
rituals which also involved chanting and beating drums. The idea was
to attain a trance-like state in which to meditate. You might think we
were naive - as I do now - but we were sincere.

So why do I agree so strongly with Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, who
has condemned new race relations guidelines issued to judges?

Well, in the name of equality, the guidelines suggest that, because of
their religious views, Rastafarians who are cannabis users should be
treated more leniently by the courts than other people, black or white.

Why am I surprised and shocked that the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine,
has endorsed the guidelines, which appear in the Equal Treatment Bench
Book issued by the official Judicial Studies Board?

The reason is that I believe, above all, in absolute colour-blind
equality before the law. That is what I, as an immigrant, have every
right to expect and demand of this country. I came here as a
youngster, from Barbados, to join my mother, who was a ticket
collector for London Transport, and my father, who worked in a Walls
sausage factory.

What I, as a black Briton, cannot demand and do not want are divisive
and potentially damaging 'privileges' based on my beliefs, my former
beliefs or my alleged beliefs.

My dreadlocks go back to my time as a Rastafarian. I am still proud to
sport them but I don't seek special consideration for them.

I suspect that the liberals who drew up the new guidelines have little
knowledge of Rastafarianism. If they had they would know - as I do -
that perhaps 50 pc of Rastafarians do not smoke dope.

THEY would know, too, that many of those who adopt dreadlocks and the
Rasta style of dress are doing.so because it gives them a phoney
legitimacy when they smoke dope.

Does the Lord Chancellor really want to encourage youngsters down that
path? I thought the Prime Minister had just declared yet another round
in the war against drugs. Whatever happened to integrated policies?

Consider what might happen in court when various characters appear on
charges relating to the possession of cannabis.

The dreadlocked black man claims to be a Rastafarian. The judge has no
idea whether this rather dodgy character is telling the truth, because
joining the Rastafarians is not like joining your local golf club. So
the judge plays safe and fines the supposed Rastafarian, say UKP30.

Next is a clean-cut, short-haired white guy. He goes down for two
years. Think of the damage such unfair sentencing would do to race
relations. Whatever Is the Lord Chancellor trying to do? Provoke
raciai conflict? Of course not, but that is likely to be the effect of
this foolish policy.

I should know, I grew up on the racially tense streets of West London
a generation ago and I was one of the original 'rude boys'. I did
three months in a detention centre before I came to my senses.

Later, I took a job as a welder in a garage and settled down with my
partner Sue. I eventually became a showjumper, and now also make my
living in radio and television.

Before I went straight, I admit, without any pride, that we carried
knives to defend ourselves from racist attacks by skinheads. If you
didn't, you were finished. Those mis-guided white youths were
convinced, perversely, that the system was weighted in favour of black
people.

If put into effect, the new guidelines will give today's racist kids -
the sort of people who murdered Stephen Lawrence - just the sort of
evidence of bias which they are so desperate to find, and it would
undoubtedly feed their prejudices.

And what sort of message would be sent to black youngsters?

I have five children, my youngest is 12 and the oldest is 20. I have
no illusions about the drug-saturated culture in which we live and the
temptations and pressures they face. What should I reply when they
tell me that the Government doesn't mind if Afro-Caribbeans smoke dope
as long as they are doing it in the name of Rastafarianism?

I know what I will say: 'I have been there, smoked my share of weed,
and moved on. Ganja fuddled my brain, made me lethargic and
unambitious, and it led many of my friends on to harder drugs and crime.'

I do not care what foolishness is dreamed up by civil servants who
should know better. I will continue to teach my children that,
whatever their religious views, drug4aking is wrong and that tolerance
of this seductive habit in the name of good race relations is deeply
misguided.