SOFT-DRUGS DEBATE NEEDED

MO MOWLAM admitted yesterday that she has smoked a marijuana joint. She did
inhale but didn't enjoy it. So what?

Are we really surprised that Ms Mowlam, a self-confessed "child of the
Sixties" experimented with soft drugs? She claims to have enjoyed a "wild"
time while a student at Durham University in the Sixties and later as a
postgraduate politics student at Iowa State University in the Seventies.

The fact that Ms Mowlam smoked marijuana while studying in the United
States should neither be condemned nor praised. Instead it should be seen
as a life-experience which will help her in her role as the head of the
government's campaign against drugs. A knowledge of the factors involved in
deciding to experiment with soft drugs will be useful in helping combat the
crippling grip some drugs have on our society.

When Ms Mowlam chairs meetings to talk about marijuana and cannabis use
among young people in Britain, there will now be at least one person there
who can claim to know what they are talking about.

Keith Hellawell, the government's so-called drugs czar, has quite rightly
called for an end to the "witch-hunt" of politicians accused of trying soft
drugs before they entered public life. Ms Mowlam has declared her
determination to continue the fight against drugs that can kill.

Those who feel the need to condemn will do so, but for the rest of us who
have longed for a rational debate on drugs in this country, the issue
should be moved to a higher level.

Now is the time for a Royal Commission on cannabis and marijuana to foster
serious debate across every section of society to look at all the questions
surrounding the issue, from its usefulness in treating those stricken with
illness to the long-term effects of recreational use.