HOW REASON HELPED BREAK THE TABOO

The events in Hyde Park yesterday have already passed into history.
Curators from the City of London Museum were on hand throughout the day to
photograph the march and collect ephemera for the capital's official archive.

But how did the Independent on Sunday's campaign to decriminalise cannabis
come to make history?

Three factors are responsible for propelling the campaign so far. Firstly
the support of readers who recognised the flaws in the outdated and
confused arguments deployed by those who want to carry on treating cannabis
as a dangerous drug, such as heroin, which must be controlled by the strict
application of the criminal law.

Secondly the way in which the debate was so enthusiastically taken up by
other elements of the media.

Thirdly the persistence of Rosie Boycott, the editor, who identified a
faint pulse in an issue that many had believed to have been long dead.

Prior to yesterday people had not taken to the streets of London in support
of cannabis law reform for 30 years. Now they have sent an unmistakable
message to the Government and broken the taboo that has obscured this issue
for so long.

It is ironic that outside the efforts of the Independent on Sunday, the
single most effective event in spreading awareness of the need for a new
approach to cannabis should come courtesy of the household of the Home
Secretary, Jack Straw.

Mr Straw, who has implacably refused to sanction open debate on the subject
of decriminalising cannabis, found himself at the sharp end of the argument
last Christmas, when his son, William, a 17-year-old sixth-former, was
enticed into supplying a small amount of the drug to a tabloid reporter.

Here was the proof that cannabis use is now virtually ubiquitous, that
otherwise respectable law-abiding people share the habit. To prosecute,
convict and blight a young life for such a minor misdemeanor would be
excessive.

Throughout the campaign our own and other opinion polls have recorded a
slow but steady shift towards acceptance of the idea of decriminalising
cannabis.

A poll last month of the 243 MPs elected to Parliament for the first time
last May showed 65 per cent were in favour of a royal commission being set
up to consider drugs and the law.