From The Evening News, Norwich, UK
EveningNewsLetters@ecn.co.uk
Tuesday, Jnauary 13, 1998

PRESSURE FOR DRUGS U-TURN

Home Secretary Jack Straw was today urged by one of his own backbenchers to 'Go Dutch' and legalise cannabis just hours after his son William was cautioned by police for selling drugs.

Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West and vice-chairman of the Commons Drugs Misuse group, applauded the police's decision not to prosecute the 17-year-old after he admitted supplying cannabis to an undercover reporter.

He said the teenager had had a 'lucky escape' and urged his father to adopt an 'intelligent' drugs policy like Holland's, where cannabis has been decriminalised.

Mr Flynn told the Home Secretary: "It was right not to prosecute Jack Straw's son, although the lives of other youngstesr have been wrecked for similar and lesser offences. (Ed. Note: Although the law is the same in all of England and Wales, enforcement varies from one area to another. In most of the larger cities cases are handled in the same way as young Straw's, but in some areas there is still a risk of jail.)

"Many have lost jobs, been expelled from schools and jailed for possession or dealing."

The backbencher said: "The Home Secretary should celebrate his lucky escape by visiting Holland and learning from a successful anti-drugs policy.

"Twenty years of cannabis decriminalisation there has cut all drugs use.  (Click here for comparative data.)   No police, courts or prison time is wasted chasing cannabis users." (Ed. Note: In Britain over eighty percent of all "drug" arrests are for cannabis.)

Heroin abuse in Holland, Mr Flynn argued, had declined every year to a third of Britain's use and claimed: "Young people are not moving from cannabis to hard drugs."

He said there had been no Dutch ecstasy or glue sniffing deaths. The MP visited the Amsterdam last week and advised Mr Straw to follow suit.  (Ed. Note: He should talk to Dutch police. They all strongly support Dutch policy.)