SCEPTICISM ON LIB DEM DRUG MOVE

Cannabis Is Smoked By Millions In The UK

The Liberal Democrats' vote to support the legalisation of cannabis has
been received with scepticism by Tories and drugs workers.

The vote is the first by a mainstream UK party and was accompanied by
radical moves on other drugs.

On Saturday, the party also voted to end imprisonment for the possession of
any illegal drug - including heroin and cocaine.

They also backed the downgrading of ecstasy from a Class A to a Class B drug.

As well as supporting cannabis decriminalisation, the delegates also
proposed full legalisation should international law allow.

Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said there was "no easy answer" to the
drugs menace but said there was no evidence it would be reduced by
decriminalising cannabis.

He said all parties agreed drug dependency in the UK ought to be much
lower, and admitted the traditional method of fighting drugs had failed.

"I don't see any sign of the Liberal Democrats or indeed the government
currently having, and we need to develop, a policy for actually reducing
drug dependency across the spectrum of drugs," he told BBC One's Frost
programme.

'Spiked' pipe

"Simply decriminalising it is not an answer to reduction."

Mr Letwin was caught up in the row in 2000 over Ann Widdecombe's proposals
for zero tolerance of cannabis.

He was among those shadow cabinet members who admitted having smoked the
drug, saying a friend put cannabis in his pipe at university without his
knowledge.

But he insisted: "The cannabis that is being smoked today is vastly more
powerful than what was going on when I was a student.

"It has real effects on people's brains and their ability to have a normal
life.

"We surely want to see a reduction in the dependence on it rather than an
increase."

Traditional methods to battle against crime or drugs had "failed", Mr
Letwin said.

"Drug dependency is on the increase, street crime is on the increase.
Something is clearly wrong."

Reclassification considered

He said there was a need to "lift" the young people at risk from drug abuse.

The Home Office is also considering reclassification of cannabis.

According to the Independent on Sunday, the Advisory Council on the Misuse
of Drugs will this week advise Mr Blunkett to downgrade cannabis to a Class
C drug, so that users could smoke it in public without fear of arrest.

The paper said the ACMD would recommend that cannabis be given the same
status as prescription tranquillizers such as Valium, making its possession
a non-arrestable offence.

The Home Office said Home Secretary David Blunkett was awaiting a report
from his drug advisers before taking any decision.

'Dangerous drug'

The Labour party denounced the Liberal Democrats' decisions on drugs policy
on Saturday.

A party spokeswoman said the party had "lost touch with the real world"
where drugs policy was concerned.

"Ecstasy is a dangerous drug that kills, and grading it from Class A to
Class B would be foolhardy and irresponsible," she said.

"Abolishing jail sentences for drugs like cocaine and heroin would lead to
more drug use and more drug-related crime."

Roger Howard, chief executive of DrugScope, said legalisation would break
UN conventions, adding: "Legalisation could possibly lead to an increase in
use if cannabis becomes commercialised."

The BBC's John Andrew "The controversial drugs vote will make it harder to
attract disaffected Tories"