Sir: Charles Kennedy, the new Liberal Democrat leader, should be
congratulated for having the courage to speak out against the current war
on drugs stance favoured by the Government and Opposition (report, 16 August).

We live in a society where people are imprisoned for easing their
arthritic pain with cannabis, and where importing cannabis is seen as
a crime that justifies a sentence four times as severe as rape. All
this for a substance that has been proven to be less harmful to health
than alcohol and tobacco.

B P WHITE
Chadderton,
Greater Manchester