The time is right to decriminalise cannabis

TODAY, the Independent on Sunday calls for the personal use of cannabis to
be decriminalised (see below).

The paper's reasons are outlined by Rosie Boycott, the editor, and
supported by strong arguments from a leading policeman and a consultant
psychiatrist. The paper's campaign will continue until the law is changed
and possession of marijuana for personal use is no longer an offence.

Already, wellknown names from the arts, business, higher education and law
are backing the paper's cause. Their names also appear in Section Two and
will be added to in the coming weeks. This is the first time a national
newspaper has sought the lawful use of cannabis for medicinal and
recreational purposes.

The campaign comes as the Government prepares to appoint its first USstyle
"drugs tsar" to coordinate the antidrugs efforts of the police, customs,
intelligence services and social service. Interviews for the position took
place last Tuesday with ministers alighting on one "favoured candidate".
However, the appointment, which was expected to be announced in Tony
Blair's conference speech on Tuesday, may be delayed for logistical reasons.

Once Parliament reconvenes after the party conference season, MPs from all
sides are expected to argue for the law to be changed. Paul Flynn, Labour
MP for Newport East and a consistent campaigner for decriminalisation,
yesterday signed the Independent on Sunday petition for decriminalisation.
Mr Flynn said: "We have lost the drugs battle in Britain."

An industrial chemist before he entered Parliament, Mr Flynn, who has never
smoked or eaten cannabis, is one of a growing number of MPs who think that
the law should be relaxed. He and his colleagues will ask the allparty
Drugs Misuse Group at Westminster when it meets on 5 November to back new
research to establish the virtues of cannabis use, with the aim of
directing Parliamentary opinion in favour of reform. Lord Mancroft, another
reformist, will also back the move to bring decriminalisation into the
mainstream of political activity.

Their efforts are likely to attract a hostile reaction from Jack Straw, the
Home Secretary, but Mr Flynn, Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year, is
undeterred. "In July, the Government told me 50 per cent of young women and
70 per cent of young men have used illegal drugs," he told the Independent
on Sunday yesterday. "At raves, it's a phenomenal 90 per cent who break an
unenforceable law. Police prefer dealing with friendly huggers at raves
rather than handling violent, puking drunks."

Mr Flynn added: "Is the answer to get tough, to crack down on pushers and
users? It's been done and failed. America has had a 20year war against
drugs. The result? Drug use, drug crime are the worst they have ever been."

Why we believe it is time to decriminalise cannabis