SO WHERE ARE WE GOING NOW, HOME SECRETARY?

JACK STRAW threw cannabis campaigners, the police and politicians into
confusion yesterday when he admitted the possibility of a rethink on
cannabis - only to reiterate his tough stance on decriminalisation later in
the day.

The Home Secretary first hinted at a possible softening of his line on the
Today programme on Radio Four when he told John Humphrys that: "If they can
prove that this drug is not [dangerous] then of course we will have to
think about it again."

The morning after his son William was named as the 17-year-old Cabinet
minister's son accused of supplying cannabis to a journalist, Mr Straw
asked people and organisations, including this newspaper, to come forward
with information. But later, after apparent pressure from Downing Street,
he reverted to his previous hardline position.

The Independent on Sunday is to respond to his earlier call for information
by handing over a dossier of evidence from leading medical experts and
campaigners showing why cannabis should be decriminalised.

The research package, which will also contain information on the
therapeutic value of cannabis and a petition of 10,000 signatures, is also
to be handed to the Police Commission, which has invited this newspaper to
give evidence, and to the new drugs tsar, Keith Hellawell, who is to take
up his post tomorrow.

This newspaper's editor, Rosie Boycott, said: "We hope that Mr Straw will
allow this incident to influence him. He has experienced first-hand what
many parents already know - that the vast majority of young people
experiment with cannabis. It does not cause them harm. It does not make
them criminal. It is time to urgently review the law in this country on
cannabis."

Over the past 12 weeks, this newspaper has published material from
authoritative sources including leading doctors, psychiatrists and the
British Medical Association, which in July voted overwhelmingly for
cannabis to be made available for medical use. In a recent editorial,
Britain's premier medical journal, The Lancet, wrote: "Cannabis has become
a political football ... Sooner or later, politicians will have to stop
running scared and address the evidence: cannabis per se is not a hazard to
society but driving it further underground may well be."

As the row reverberated around Westminster, the Liberal Democrats and an
influential Labour MP yesterday demanded a Royal Commission into the drugs
law.

Alan Beith, deputy leader and Home Affairs spokesman of the Liberal
Democrats, said: "This case illustrates that the best way to tackle drug
misuse in our society is to allow a Royal Commission to look at the problem
away from the political hothouse at Westminster and the family lives of
individual ministers".

David Winnick, a Labour member of the influential Home Affairs select
committee, also called for fresh examination of the law.

He argued: "I am one of those who realise there is a need for a debate on
the subject. I am yet to be persuaded that the answer is legalisation but
there is a case for a debate on a subject where there is much controversy".