SELL CANNABIS IN COFFEE SHOPS

Sir: Government drugs adviser Keith Hellawell justified his resignation
over a controversial proposal to reclassify cannabis by claiming "it's
moving further towards decriminalisation than any other country in the
world" (report, 11 July). Apparently Britain's former drug tsar is
unfamiliar with the drug policies of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain
and Portugal, among others. His apparent ignorance regarding his alleged
expertise is not an isolated incident. The emphasis on "drug-free"
backgrounds as a primary hiring criteria for top-level drug policy posts in
the Government is part of the problem.

There is a reason many Britons prefer cannabis to gin. Anyone who has
experimented with both drugs knows that alcohol is far more dangerous.
Alcohol drinkers risk painful hangovers, loss of basic bodily functions,
and even death. Cannabis smokers who over-indulge risk wanting to take a nap.

Make no mistake, cannabis can be harmful if repeatedly abused, but criminal
records are hardly appropriate health interventions.

The drugs war is not a public health campaign so much as an
inter-generational culture war. The conservative reactionaries who confuse
cannabis with the counterculture need to come to grips with the fact that
cannabis use has been mainstream for decades.

ROBERT SHARPE

Program Officer

Drug Policy Alliance

Washington DC