FORMER JUDGE CALLS FOR LEGALISATION OF CANNABIS AND END TO 'UNENFORCEABLE' LAW

A FORMER High Court judge called last night for cannabis to be legalised
and the drug supplied in the same way as alcohol and tobacco.

Speaking days after the case against a multiple sclerosis sufferer accused
of supplying cannabis was abandoned, Lord Prosser said the current laws on
the Class B drug were unenforceable and should be scrapped.

Lord Prosser, who retired from the Bench in October, is the most senior
Scottish legal figure to call for the legalisation of cannabis. Government
policy is to effectively decriminalise the drug by reclassifying it from B
to C.

The debate has been fuelled by the case of Biz Ivol, from Orkney, who was
accused of supplying cannabis chocolates to fellow MS sufferers. The case
was dropped by the Crown on the grounds that Ivol's condition has advanced
to the point where it was no longer in the public interest to prosecute.

After the case was dropped, Ivol, 56, attempted to take her own life with
an overdose of paracetamol but was discovered by neighbours and is now
recovering in hospital.

Lord Prosser said he did not wish to comment about the Biz Ivol case in
particular, but added: "I have long believed that the law [on cannabis] in
its present form should be changed.

"It should be legal to posses the drug and there should be a system of
controlled supply similar to that which exists for tobacco and alcohol. You
obviously cannot have a free-for-all for supply - that has to be
controlled, just as alcohol and tobacco are controlled."

Lord Prosser said large numbers of people were using cannabis, despite a
high-profile government 'war on drugs' that has sought to cut off supplies
and penalise dealers and addicts.

He said: "The current law is clearly not working. It should be scrapped and
we should start again. If a law seems to be unenforceable then one would
have to think very carefully about how to solve the problem in other ways.
It cannot be a sound law if it does not achieve what it was meant to achieve."

Lord Prosser's recent retirement has left him free to air his opinions. By
convention, judges who still sit in Scottish courts do not comment on
whether laws should be changed.

Margo MacDonald, the independent MSP for the Lothians, and a long-term
advocate of more liberal drug laws, said: "Lord Prosser is to be applauded
for his stance. The truth is that society has moved on and most people
regard cannabis as no different in principle to alcohol or cigarettes."

Kevin Williamson, a campaigner for more liberal drugs laws, said:
"Politicians are way behind public opinion on this issue. There has been a
sea-change in public attitudes. Now we have judges who are more in tune
with the public mood than our political leaders."

However, Lord Prosser's views drew a less favourable response from the
Scottish Conservatives, who claimed that the cannabis lobby was exploiting
the Ivol case to argue for laxer drug laws.

A spokesman said: "There are too many mixed messages coming out... we need
clarity in the fight against drugs.

"While there is a justifiable debate about the medicinal uses of cannabis,
the two issues should remain separate."

MacDonald has also written to Colin Boyd QC, the Lord Advocate, demanding a
change in policy on prosecuting MS sufferers who make use of cannabis, in
the aftermath of the Ivol affair.

She wants them to be allowed to use cannabis as a palliative without the
fear of prosecution.

The Scottish Executive was last night unwilling to voice any view on the
subject, saying that the regulation of drugs was a matter reserved to the
UK government and not a subject which MSPs could decide.

A Home Office spokesman said ministers would not be commenting on the views
of an individual judge. However, he added that the government's plans to
rec lassify cannabis from a class B to a class C drug would mean that
possession of the drug would still be an offence, although it was not
regarded as being as dangerous as harder drugs such as heroin and cocaine.