LORDS DEFY STRAW OVER CANNABIS

The House of Lords is to launch an inquiry into the case for
decriminalising cannabis, reigniting debate on the issue in the face of
pledges by the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, to retain the ban.

In a move underlining the continuing capacity of peers to embarrass the
Government, the respected Lords science and technology select committee
unveiled plans to examine the case for continuing to outlaw cannabis for
medical and recreational use.

Peers will take evidence from March until July and publish a report on
their findings in October. Lord Perry of Walton, chairman of the
sub-committee holding the inquiry, last night said he and fellow members
had an open mind on the issue. The committee would call for factual
scientific evidence and reject 'sociological prejudice'.

The decision to hold the inquiry, emerging the day after peers inflicted a
defeat on the Government over newspaper price wars, underlines the
willingness of the Lords to examine issues considered too politically
sensitive to be handled in the Commons. Committees of peers are seen to
have greater freedom to confront controversial topics with less pressure to
avoid embarrassing the Government than their colleagues in the Commons.

Peers were influenced by a combination of increasing public debate on the
matter and by the findings of a report by the British Medical Association
which last autumn recommended the legalisation of cannabis-based drugs for
medicinal use.

The timing of the inquiry is particularly awkward for the Government as it
comes less than two months after Mr Straw's son William was accused in a
tabloid newspaper of selling cannabis to two undercover reporters. Mr Straw
stood by his son over the claims, but reiterated his firm belief that the
drug should remain illegal.

Pressure for a liberalisation of the law has been gathering momentum.
Labour campaigners led by the MP for Newport West, Paul Flynn, have called
for the setting up of a royal commission to look into the question.

Last week, national figures published by the Home Office suggested police
in England and Wales are increasingly cautioning rather than prosecuting
those arrested for possessing cannabis.

Mr Flynn last night claimed the Lords inquiry reflected a shift in public
opinion in favour of decriminalisation. He said: "The Lords will examine
this issue objectively and with scientific expertise. They will hear
evidence sensibly, free from the prejudice and ignorance that informs the
national debate."

The decision to examine the case for decriminalising cannabis was taken by
the full science and technology select committee, which has the power to
decide its own areas of inquiry.

Lord Perry, a former professor of pharmacology and a fellow of the Open
University, last night said the committee would seek to examine only the
scientific arguments.

"Of course it is going to be tricky, but when you are talking about
scientific evidence you are talking about real evidence, not sociological
prejudice.

"I don't think there is any preconceived notion that we will come out one
way or the other. This was simply a thing that was thought to be worthy of
scientific study."

The Government has no obligation to take note of reports published by House
of Lords select committees, but in practice it will have to acknowledge the
findings of an independent and respected group of peers.

A Home Office spokesman last night reinforced Mr Straw's tough line.

"It has been the Government's repeated stance that they have no intention
of changing the law on cannabis, which is in line with the United Nations
convention on drug control. While the Government is always interested in
informal debate on these sort of subjects, it has made clear its position."