STRAW IS FORCED INTO DRUG DEBATE

THE Government has bowed to demands for a public debate on the drug laws.
Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, indicated so yesterday while insisting that
the Government was still firmly opposed to scrapping jail terms for
possessing cannabis, ecstasy and LSD.

For the first time, Mr Straw publicly acknowledged that there was a
"coherent argument" in favour of legalising cannabis and the new
Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, admitted that pursuing
cannabis users was not a "priority".

The Government has been reluctant to allow a public debate on legalising
cannabis, fearing that it would dent the tough law and order image Tony
Blair and Mr Straw have tried to cultivate. But ministers have been
surprised by the response to last week's report from the Police Foundation,
which suggested that penalties for illegal drugs should be reduced, even
though supplying them would remain a serious offence.

It recommended that possession of cannabis should be punishable only by
cautions or fixed fines. The report was criticised by anti-drug
campaigners, including the parents of Leah Betts, the teenager who died
after taking a single ecstasy tablet. Others described it as a "breath of
fresh air" in view of growing evidence that while Britain has some of the
toughest drug laws of any major Western country, it has the biggest
consumption of drugs and the worst addiction rate.

Downing Street was taken aback by the reaction to a leading article in The
Telegraph, which examined the arguments for legalising cannabis for an
experimental period. Writing in the News of the World, Mr Straw said he
welcomed the Police Foundation report and was "always up for a debate" on
tackling drugs.

Home Office sources later emphasised that Mr Straw would use the debate to
put across the Government's clear opposition to decriminalising cannabis
and make the case for keeping the present legal framework. Mr Straw said
that, although the Police Foundation did not recommend legalising cannabis,
he accepted that there was a "coherent argument" for doing so.

"This says that cannabis is different in effect from hard drugs such as
cocaine and heroin and is no more serious in its effects than alcohol and
tobacco. More people, so the argument goes, die from smoking and more
crimes are committed because of drink than because of cannabis. The answer,
therefore, is to legalise and let people make their own decision. This is
the argument, but I don't agree with it."

Mr Straw accepted that making cannabis legal would not necessarily greatly
increase addiction to hard drugs. He said: "While it is undoubtedly the
case that many drug addicts started with cannabis, to claim that taking
cannabis is bound to lead people into hard drugs has always seemed to me
far-fetched."

But consumption would rise and the more government tried to choke off
demand by taxing cannabis, the greater the incentive for smugglers. Britain
would take over from the Netherlands as the centre for Europe's drug trade.
Mr Straw confirmed that those found with small amounts of cannabis were
usually cautioned for a first offence. He also acknowledged that cannabis
might become a prescription drug for certain conditions.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner made his comments during a
fact-finding trip to New York. Sir John told reporters: "If the law says
that cannabis is illegal, then we enforce the laws. If Parliament says it's
legal, then so be it." In London, "with robberies and murders up, cannabis
cannot be a priority".

Whitehall officials denied that Mo Mowlam, the Cabinet Office Minister in
charge of the anti-drugs strategy, had been "gagged". She is said to be
arguing in Cabinet for a more relaxed stance on soft drugs.