REDUCING penalties for the possession of cannabis is not enough, according to Harpenden MP Peter Lilley, who wants the drug to be legalised.
Hitting national headlines again this week, the MP criticised the Government's decision to make use of cannabis a non-arrestable offence and renewed his calls for decriminalisation.
The first Tory minister to take such a stance, Mr Lilley is also calling for the drug to be made openly available to people over the age of 18 from Government-licensed outlets.
His comments follow Home Secretary David Blunkett's announcement this week that cannabis is to be recategorised from a class B drug to class C next year.
This will mean possession will still be illegal but penalties will be much lower, with most offenders escaping with a warning.
Mr Lilley said: "As long as it remains illegal and can only be obtained from criminal sources, then users, mainly young people, are being exposed to the pushers of hard drugs.
"The Home Secretary has moved in the right direction but, in my view, he has missed the most important thing by not breaking breaking the link between cannabis and hard drugs.
"It undermines respect for the law and the police when you have a law that is only sometimes enforced."
However, Mr Lilley predicted this latest move would be the "stepping stone" to the "inevitable" decriminalisation of cannabis.
Licensed retailers would sell cannabis legally but consumption would not be permitted on the premises or in public places, under the MP's proposals.
"We should have outlets where people can get weed if they really want to," he added.
Mr Lilley visited Amsterdam, Holland, where cannabis has been liberalised since 1976, earlier this year.
He added: "The visit did confirm that Amsterdam has broken the link between between cannabis, which you can get at coffee shops, and the hard drug users, who are an aging group and don't get new recruits.
"I went to coffee shops, but I didn't consume apart from passive smoking.
"I interviewed people there, in the police, drug rehabilitation units and hostels for hard drug users."
Mr Lilley also appeared on national television and radio this week to express his views.
October 26, 2001 14:59
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