The Stoner Army

The Justice Minister, Jack Straw, became the most senior Labour
minister last night to speak out against the decriminalisation of cannabis.

He told Channel Four News that he was against downgrading it to a
class C drug.

"I was always against it, let me say, I can disclose this now,
reducing the categorisation of cannabis from B to C, I thought that
was an error," he said.

"I'm glad to know that we are now looking again at that. I don't think
decriminalisation would work.

"I'm happy to have a debate about that, but I'm absolutely clear -
what we know about cannabis now, more than we did even five and 10
years ago, is the way it can lead to very serious exacerbation of
mental health problems."

Gordon Brown, in his conference speech yesterday, promised that the
Government would be tough on drugs.

Last month, he indicated that he was ready to reverse the downgrading
of cannabis.

He told GMTV: "It is the message you send out.

"Why I want to upgrade cannabis and make it more a drug that people
worry about is that we don't want to send out a message - just like
with alcohol - to teenagers that we accept these things."

The reclassification announced by the then Home Secretary David
Blunkett in 2001 came into effect in 2004 and meant users no longer
faced arrest for carrying small amounts of the drug.

Following criticism of the decision and claims that stronger strains
of cannabis were causing a health threat, Tony Blair ordered a review
of the law.

But in 2006 the review rejected the argument for a return to class B
status.

Mr Straw's son William was arrested in 1997 aged 15 and given a police
caution for trying to sell UKP10 worth of cannabis to an undercover reporter.

Mr Straw was then Home Secretary and had taken a tough stance on
drugs.

The shadow home secretary, David Davis, said last night: "This is yet
another Cabinet minister performing a U-turn on policy pioneered over
the last decade.

"Labour's lax approach to drugs, 24-hour drinking has wrought havoc,
fuelling crime and anti-social behaviour at great cost to the public."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake