WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS MAN?

Employed as drug tsar, he says that cannabis does not lead to harder drugs.

Critics round on Blair's $106,000-a-year adviser

KEITH HELLAWELL, the Government's drugs tsar, was condemned yesterday after
claiming that cannabis use did not lead to heroin abuse.

The former chief constable's comment, in a newspaper interview, came in the
wake of a report which revealed that Britain is the cannabis capital of
Europe.

It fuelled speculation that his three-year contract as Whitehall's most
highly-paid adviser may not be renewed next year.

His views are out of step with those of Home Secretary, Jack Straw, while
the Prime Minister appears to distance himself from the man he appointed,
even bypassing him over key policy announcements.

In recent months criticism of Mr Hellawell's record has grown, with
opponents claiming he has made little difference and lacks the political
skills to influence policy.

Mr Hellawell, who earns $106,000 a year, insisted there was no research to
prove the link between taking cannabis and starting to use harder drugs -
the so-called 'gateway effect'.

He said: "I have never subscribed to the view that if you take cannabis you
end up taking heroin. There's no research I know of that proves the link."

Last night eminent drugs expert Professor John Henry, a toxicologist at St
Mary's Hospital in Paddington, said Mr Hellawell was flying in the face of
research and playing into the hands of drug dealers.

A study in the medical journal Addiction revealed a clear progression in
drug use among 10,000 schoolchildren, starting with alcohol and cigarettes,
followed by cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy and heroin.

Cannabis use signalled the beginning of dangerous experimentation with
harder drugs, health experts in Norway found.

Professor henry said: "In saying cannabis does not lead to heroin abuse, he
is really is a garbage merchant. What is he trying to achieve by saying
that is anybody's guess, but it plays into the hands of the very people who
are selling drugs.

"We found a definite progression in the unfortunate people we work with
every day. This has been backed by recent research which shows a clear
sequence in the seriousness of drug use among young people.

"These are not middle-class hippies enjoying a smoke. These are children
who are very much at risk."

Roger Howard, chief executive of the charity Drugscope, said: "No one can
say for sure that it is an automatic causative effect - it is like saying
the M1 goes to Leeds and therefore anyone who gets on it is definitely going
to go there.

"But anyone who implies cannabis is harm-free is living in cloud
cuckoo-land."

Tory home affairs spokesman, David Lidington, said: "This is an
extraordinary comment by Keith Hellawell because the relationship between
cannabis and hard drugs is well known.

"Not every cannabis user moves on to heroin, but the professionals say to me
that virtually all addicts on hard drugs started on cannabis."

Last week a report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug
addiction showed that one in ten British adults admitted using cannabis in
the past year - the highest rate in Europe.

A 1997 study in the journal Science revealed that cannabis works on the same
parts of the brain as other sedatives, including heroin.

Doctors and anti-drugs campaigners agree that the majority of heroin users
start taking cannabis.

The risks of using cannabis are clear. It contains a high level of tar
which leads to an increased likelihood of throat, mouth, head and neck
cancers, as well as damage to fertility.

Last night, a Government spokesman said: "He feel that in terms of the 'a
gateway effect' there is no research to show a connection, but from his own
personal experiences, people say cannabis gets them on to harder drugs".