EX-POLICE CHIEF JOINS BATTLE TO LEGALISE DRUGS

A former chief constable has revealed that he has become a leading
member of a group campaigning for the legalisation of all drugs.

Francis Wilkinson, who retired as Gwent's top policeman this year and
has recently spoken out against the Government's prohibition policy
on drugs, told BBC1's Panorama that he has become a patron of campaign
group 'Transform'.

The controversial documentary, to be shown at 10 tonight, also reveals
results of research showing widespread police tolerance of cannabis,
which officers of all ranks say they regard as less harmful and
addictive than alcohol or tobacco.

Mr Wilkinson joins a former head of Scotland Yard's drug squad, Edward
Ellison - already a patron of 'Transform'-to call for drug prohibition
to be replaced with an effective system of regulation and control.

Damage

He said: "The British crime survey shows that over the past couple of
years cocaine consumption has doubled.

"It will double again in a couple of years unless we do something to
manage the supply in a more effective way. "What I want do is to
take the criminal out of the market. At present, the whole drugs
supply business, this whole international industry, is controlled
by criminals.

"If we look at the social damage caused by the present regime then the
fact that we are supplying the drug through more highly regulated
mechanisms locally will probably be a good thing."

Tonight's programme features the results of a three-year study
tracking the changes in police attitudes towards illicit drugs.

The study, which looked at the reactions of 95 officers in three
different forces to various hypothetical cases involving cannabis,
heroin and Ecstasy, reveals that police are more tolerant of drugs
than they were ten years ago.