PRESS AHEAD ON DRUGS REFORM

Guardian Unlimited Press Reviewer Mark Tran Thinks New Labour Could
Learn A Lesson From Unlikely Sources

For a government that prides itself for being so finely attuned to
public opinion, the Blair team appears to have a tin ear in the debate
on drugs. The Police Foundation had barely released its report this
week, recommending an easing of Britain's drug laws, when government
officials trashed it. Drug tsar Keith Hellawell dismissed the need for
any change in the law, preferring to stick to a US-style war on drugs.
It was the knee-jerk reaction of a government determined to show that
it still was "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime", a slogan
that epitomises new Labour's robust approach to law and order.

The left-leaning papers, the Guardian and the Independent, expressed
their exasperation at the government's refusal to take seriously the
Police Foundation's proposals. No surprise there. Less predictable
was the reaction from the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph, two of
the most consistently hostile papers to the government.

In an editorial that must have had some its regular readers fuming
that they were reading a pinko rag, the Telegraph concluded that the
war on drugs had failed. The paper said it had reluctantly concluded
that the banning of all drugs caused more harm than good. It went on
to suggest that the government draw up plans to legalise cannabis.
This was a startling conclusion from a paper known for its tough
attitude to law-and-order issues.

In a similar vein, the Mail, which regularly flails the government,
said the Police Foundation report deserved a "hysteria-free and
rational examination", something the paper does not apply to issues
such as asylum seekers. The paper also carried an argument in favour
of decriminalisation by rightwing Cambridge don John Casey - although
that was counterbalanced by an angry piece by Janet Betts, whose
daughter Leah died after taking an ecstasy tablet.

Today, the Telegraph returned to the drugs issue. It fleshed out its
proposal for legalisation of cannabis to the point of proposing an
excise tax not too high so as to aid the survival of the illegal
trade, yet high enough to offer some measure of discouragement. The
Telegraph is not the first conservative publication to propose a more
liberal approach to drugs. The Economist, that bastion of free-market
thinking, has long advocated abandoning the war on drugs.

Not all government ministers are so uptight about drugs. Mo Mowlam has
stuck her head above the parapet on the issue of legalisation only to
be slapped down. But it's a good bet that she is closer to the
mainstream than her boss at No 10. That mainstream now includes papers
like the Telegraph and the Mail. Drugs is no longer a left-right
issue. It is one of those social issues, like abortion, that cuts
across traditional party lines and as such allows New Labour
considerable room for manoeuvre. If there was ever an issue that cried
out for the "third way" approach Mr Blair drones on about so much, it
is drugs.

The government will get a chance to see whether it is behind public
opinion when Labour MP Paul Flynn introduces a bill to decriminalise
the use of cannabis. He said he believes there has been a sea change
in public attitude towards drug use.

"The point of this bill is to make sure that the splendid report from
the Police Foundation is not kicked aside and ignored," Mr Flynn said.
"Even Tony Blair and Jack Straw might be a little shaken by the fact
that they are outflanked on this policy on the left by the Daily
Telegraph. I believe the whole population is moving in this direction."

It is time for the government to move in the same direction. If the
Mail and Telegraph are prepared to think afresh about old problems,
new Labour should show some willingness to kill a few sacred cows.
Otherwise, a party that prides itself on being modern comes across as
old-fashioned, conservative and hidebound.