STING HAS CALLED FOR THE LEGALISATION OF MARIJUANA

The Fields of Gold singer insists America should spend the money it
uses jailing users of the drug on tackling poverty and global warming.

Sting, 58, wrote on his blog how he feels marijuana users are
imprisoned for a crime that doesn't hurt anyone.

He said: "The 'War on Drugs' has failed - but it's worse than that. It
is actively harming our society. Violent crime is thriving in the
shadows to which the drug trade has been consigned.

"People who genuinely need help can't get it. Neither can people who
need medical marijuana to treat terrible diseases.

We are spending billions, filling up our prisons with non-violent
offenders and sacrificing our liberties."

Sting - real name Gordon Sumner - called for people to support the
Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), an activist group who campaign for those
jailed for non-violent drugs offences to be released from prison.

He continued: "For years, the 'Drug War' has been used as a pretext to
lock people in prison for exorbitant lengths of time - people whose
'crimes' never hurt another human being, people who already lived at
the margins of society, whose voices were the faintest and whose power
was the least.

"Meanwhile, resources to fight genuine crime - violent crime - have
been significantly diminished."

The comments immediately elicited an angry response from anti-drugs
groups.

A spokesperson for DARE, which teaches schoolchildren about the
dangers of drug use wrote: "He should stick to singing and not meddle
in matters he doesn't understand.

"We do not need pop stars coming out and making irresponsible
statements like that."