BISHOP TAKES HIGH GROUND ON CANNABIS

THE high church may be getting higher. The Most Rev Richard Holloway has
admitted that he has "tried hash". The 65-year-old Bishop of Edinburgh,
Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, took it "once - a few years ago. It
was, though, a bit disappointing".

The bishop is the first leading British churchman to have said publicly that
he has taken what is still an illegal substance and to call for its
decriminalisation.

Holloway believes firmly that both alcohol and cigarettes are "far more
harmful" than cannabis. In a new book, Godless Morality, he criticises
western society's hang-ups over drugs. "The word 'drug' itself is loaded and
it is almost impossible to purge it of its unattractive associations. Yet a
drug is a natural substance which has psychoactive properties. We all seem
to have a need to get outside of ourselves from time to time," he writes.

Tony Blair, Jack Straw, the home secretary whose son William was caught with
cannabis, and Dr Jack Cunningham, who takes special responsibility for the
government's drugs policy, have all said they are opposed to its legalisation.

Speaking yesterday from America, Holloway blamed the politicians "who hide
behind the tabloids" for not daring to debate the decriminalisation of
cannabis. "Politicians like Blair have to make choices. But he has chosen
not to fight on the drugs front. There is a lot of hypocrisy around," he said.

Holloway, who flies back to Scotland today, will this week call for the
drug's legalisation for both recreational and medicinal purposes during a
talk he will give tomorrow at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

He wants a royal commission on all drugs and believes that heroin should be
put on prescription. "It makes much more sense for the management of the
addict. Putting it on prescription gets the dealer out of the way," he said.

The bishop, who is married with three children, is a noted liberal who has
long accused the church of being far too conservative on a number of issues,
notably homosexuality. While he has clearly gained support from certain
parts of the church on gay issues, his call for the decriminalisation of
cannabis and his admission that he has tried it will raise many more eyebrows.

"We support the law on this matter," said a spokesman for the Archbishop of
Canterbury yesterday. "Only if the government was to change that law might
we reconsider our view."

Last year Douglas Bartles-Smith, archdeacon of Southwark, called for "an
informed debate on cannabis", but so far the church has not aired the issue
except at a recent Lambeth conference in the wider context of the problem of
drugs.

While most politicians are opposed publicly to the decriminalisation of
cannabis, some backbenchers, notably Labour MPs Paul Flynn and Brian Iddon,
have said it ought to be legalised. Last month Lord McCluskey, the leading
Scottish judge, called for a fresh look at the law. "If you import cannabis
you can get 25 years. Is the importation of cannabis four times as bad as
rape?" he said.

Last year the Prince of Wales raised some eyebrows when he asked a multiple
sclerosis sufferer if she had tried cannabis. "I've heard it's the best
thing for it," said the prince.