IOS CONFERENCE CAN THEY READ SMOKE SIGNALS?

TWELVE weeks ago, the decriminalisation of cannabis was forced on to the
political agenda for the first time in 25 years by the Independent on
Sunday's campaign. Since then, the issue has been debated by politicians,
law enforcement agencies and the medical profession. And it has been taken
up across the media by the New Statesman and Melody Maker, and by the
Daily Express and the Daily Mirror.

On Thursday, the debate took on a new urgency, as 15 MPs, doctors, drug
care workers, police officers, evangelical Christians, committed cannabis
users, and people suffering from multiple sclerosis attended the IoS
conference on cannabis, held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre,
at the heart of Westminster, in front of an audience of 700.

Many delegates had travelled from Italy, the Netherlands, France and
Belgium. And some had even crossed the Atlantic to take part in the most
significant contribution to the overdue debate on cannabis law reform in
Britain since the 1970s. But no one from the Government, which has
maintained it is eager to debate the decriminalisation of cannabis, could
find the time to cross Parliament Square.

Those MPs who did attend heard nine speakers, including Anita Roddick,
founder of the Body Shop, Conservative MP Nigel Evans and drug science
expert Professor Lynn Zimmer address the conference and take questions from
the floor.

The lively discussion, deftly chaired by Channel 4's Jon Snow, balanced
platform speakers for and against the proposition, "Cannabis: Should It Be
Decriminalised?"

Over the past three months the IoS campaign has helped put the issue of
cannabis and the law into the realm of public debate. And despite the
Government's cold feet, the message from the conference to the Home
Secretary is that public opinion is moving in favour of change. But is the
Government prepared to listen?

George Howarth, the junior Home Office minister in charge of the drugs
brief, had been invited more than a month earlier. At that time his diary
for Thursday's conference was clear. But last week his staff announced that
he had "a prior engagement". Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, left it until
Monday to explain that he, too, would be unable to attend.

But he did send a contradictory message to the conference, stating: "As you
know, I am only too happy to debate [the decriminalisation of cannabis]."
But he added that his opinion, and that of the Government, was well known.
"We are against the legalisation of cannabis."

Keith Hellawell, the new drugs tsar, was another who has professed an
interest in broad debate and consultation with the public, but he ducked
the conference on the grounds that his new job does not officially begin
until 5 January. His deputy, Mike Trace, who has started work, was also
invited but failed to turn up along with any senior representative from the
Metropolitan Police and at least 12 provincial constabularies which were
invited weeks earlier. Mr Hellawell and Mr Trace were not required to
address the conference, having been offered observer status.

The attempted boycott by those charged with administering the current drug
policy must cast a shadow of doubt over their claims that they are
seriously committed to a policy of public consultation and debate on drugs
law reform issues.

However, the absence of Home Office spokesmen and senior serving officers
did not prevent others from continuing to argue for a continuation of the
ban.

The Conservative MP Nigel Evans, the opposition frontbench spokesman for
constitutional matters and former chairman of an allparty drugs abuse
committee, offered a stout defence of the status quo.

He argued that if laws banning cannabis were relaxed there would be a rapid
increase in use and in subsequent addiction. "There is no evidence to
suggest that smoking cannabis is harmfree," said the MP for Ribble Valley.
"You only have to go down to Dover to see what happens when tax
restrictions are eased through dutyfree allowances. Beer and tobacco is
flooding in and I have no doubt the same would apply to cannabis," he said.

Also keen to assert the case for continuing the legal ban on cannabis was
David Partington, who stands on the religious right. Mr Partington,
chairman of the Evangelical Coalition on Drugs, told the conference that
decriminalising cannabis would amount to "giving a government green light
to intoxication". Mr Partington drew on his experience of working with
drink and drug addicts in London. "If society decides to decriminalise, it
will write its own death warrant," he said. "More people using it will mean
more people addicted, and addicted people descend into a life of despair,
and those around them suffer also."

A delegate from the George Sorosbacked drug research group, the Lindesmith
Centre in New York, took a more positive view. "I see the IoS conference as
a model for future debates in other countries," said Tyler Trippet. "It is
probable that we would find it difficult to organise anything like this in
the US. However, it would be a good idea to copy this in laws is about to
percolate to the surface."

The most passionate platform address came from the Italian MEP Gianfranco
Dell 'Alba, who invited all groups represented at the conference to
affiliate to a new group working for drugs law harmonisation across the EU.
"This could be the first signs of the light at the end of the dark tunnel
for drug reform in Europe," he told delegates, before leaving to fly back
to his own conference that afternoon in Brussels.

Professor John Morgan, the American coauthor of the book Marijuana Myths,
Marijuana Facts, speaking after the conference, said: "I thought it was a
marvellous presentation. I even enjoyed listening to the Christian
opponents of decriminalisation and I found it interesting that they
resorted to spurious claims that cannabis causes bodily harm. If they read
my book perhaps we could get down to a proper exchange of views based on
rationality rather than emotion and myth."

Professor Zimmer, from the Lindesmith Centre, said: "The encouraging part
is that the voices of reform are everywhere and seem to be growing. In
Britain the IoS policy of providing a forum for discussion should make it
clear that opposition to the law is not going to go away. "For any law to
function, there must be a consensus of support, even criminals in jail
will, if questioned, agree that it should be against the law to steal. That
clearly is not the case with cannabis users, or with the laws in the UK and
most of the rest of the developed world."