DRUGS: TRAGEDY OF A FAMILY TORN APART BY DRUGS

Britain has been split down the middle by the Home Secretary's decision to
downgrade cannabis to a Class C drug. Some think he has gone too far,
others not far enough.

Today, The Evening Telegraph invites readers to have their say and one
mother tells the heart-breaking story of how she lost her son to drugs -
leaving her grandson to grow up without a father.

WHEN David Blunkett announced his plans to "concentrate on drugs that
create the most harm" a shudder went down Maureen Williams' spine. Try
telling her, or Nicky Osborn for that matter, that cannabis cannot lead to
harm. They had to sit and watch as Adam Williams - Maureen's youngest son,
and Nicky's long-term boyfriend, and the father of her child - battled
against a drug-induced paranoia that started with his first spliff and
ended in suicide last August aged just 23.

And, as the Home Secretary proposed to downgrade cannabis from Class B to
Class C, Nicky vowed never to let three-year-old Lewis step on to the same
slippery slope as his father.

Nicky, of Old Court Place, March, said: "It is hard looking back to know
exactly where Adam's problems began. He went from cannabis to amphetamines,
then on to heroin, and I don't know at what point he felt he could not
stop, or wanted to commit suicide.

"But I know I could never condone Lewis smoking cannabis, and I wish Adam
had never touched it either."

She and Maureen have spoken a lot in the year since Adam died, about his
addiction to drugs and alcohol.

It has given Maureen an insight into her son's troubles she did not have
for many years when he was still alive.

She said: "He went through all kinds of drugs from the age of 13 or 14, and
all the time we had no idea. I suppose we should have had an inkling about
what was happening, but if we did we just pushed it to the back of our
minds. We were very naive."

Things came to a head after a row between Adam and his older brother Vince
early last year. Maureen (61), of Emneth Hungate, near Wisbech, said: "We
told Adam that he had to leave home and try to sort his life out."

When Adam returned home after weeks begging on the streets of Peterborough
the car he had been sleeping in was taken as collateral by a drug dealer
Maureen began to understand her son's problems.

She said: "We went to drug counselling sessions, and he really started to
open up. It was an eye-opener for me.

"When I was a girl we did not know the first thing about drugs, but by
Adam's time they were in the playgrounds of secondary schools. Next it will
be primary schoolchildren who are experimenting with them."

Despite counselling, Adam continued to slump into despair and was haunted
by the belief that people could read his thoughts. Nicky is certain that
drugs caused her boyfriend's irrational fears.

Now, Nicky hopes that if little Lewis is ever offered cannabis he will at
least have a better idea of the possible dangers that lie in wait behind
the supposedly "less harmful" drug.

Nicky said: "I will never let Lewis forget his father, and what happened
will always be a lesson for him. Adam was a great father and was wonderful
with Lewis - which is ironic because whether or not he would make a good
dad was one of the things which worried him and drove him to drugs.

"But when he was with Lewis he was a different person. He did not want
Lewis to grow up the same way he did. He used to say he needed a reason not
to kill himself and for a long time that was me and Lewis, but in the end
his problems were just too great."

Although they have both suffered from Adam's death, Nicky and Maureen do
not share exactly the same view on the dangers of cannabis. Maureen
believes cannabis stole her son's childhood and robbed him of the chance of
ever growing up.

But Nicky, who was with Adam when he first started smoking it, is not so
quick to condemn it.

She said: "Everything Maureen says, about it being dangerous and a gateway
to harsher drugs, I understand. But having been around it more, I know
people who have smoked it for years and not had the problems Adam had.

"My worry is if younger people start smoking it they may not be mature
enough, psychologically, to deal with it. Maybe that is what happened to
Adam, it is just hard to say."

Majority vote against Blunkett's move

THE biggest reform of Britain's drugs laws was always going to be
controversial. Politicians of all parties can be found who support or
oppose softening the stance against cannabis. And it's not simply
politicians who can't agree.

Police officers are unsure if the move will help or hinder their war
against hard drugs, and many parents are unlikely to agree with their
teenage children about whether it's OK to smoke dope.

So it's not surprising The Evening Telegraph's telephone poll produced a
mixed message from city people.

On the day on which we exposed the ease with which cannabis can be bought
on the streets of the city, we asked readers to take part in a vote on
whether Home Secretary David Blunkett was right to reclassify the drug as a
Class C substance. The move means users will not be arrested for possession
from next summer, although dealers could still face jail sentences of up to
14 years.

Our survey showed 48 per cent of readers backed Blunkett's move, with 52
per cent against.

If the survey is an accurate reflection of opinion, the Government will no
doubt be disappointed to learn it does not have the majority support it
would wish on such an important issue.

But there can be no doubt there is now a large body of support for the
decriminalisation of possession of cannabis. Whether that support will last
remains to be seen.