A Labour MP is pressing the British government to rethink its strict policy on drugs by calling for a national debate to adopt an "intelligent" approach to the issue.
The challenge from Mr Paul Flynn, chairman of a Commons all-party group on drugs misuse, came as the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, stressed his commitment to ensuring drugs would not be decriminalised. Mr Straw's son, William, is facing drug-dealing allegations.
Mr Flynn, who has called for the legalisation of cannabis, yesterday pointed to the government's appointment of the former chief constable, Mr Keith Hellawell, as the UK's anti-drugs co-ordinator, claiming that he would become a "fall guy" for "populist so-called tough policies".
Mr Hellawell takes up his post today, but Mr Flynn said: "Keith Hellawell's job has a derisory budget and his task is to repackage old, failed policies".
Instead of repackaged policies, Mr Flynn said, the government should adopt the "intelligent" decriminalisation policy of the Netherlands towards drugs which had cut the country's drug use to a level below that in Britain. He also criticised the so-called zero-tolerance approach, much admired among police officers in Britain.
Citing the example of "drug czars" in the US, where the zero-tolerance policy was first adopted, Mr Flynn said they had become "laughable flops", with one co-ordinator being referred to as a "drugs nanny".
Meanwhile, as a poll in the People found that more than 83 per cent of respondents were in favour of legalising marijuana, Mr Straw insisted that medical research had yet to prove there was a case for legalising cannabis.
Speaking on the BBC's Break- fast with Frost programme, Mr Straw stood firm against a quietly growing voice in Britain which is calling for the legalisation of cannabis. He said he believed the use of cannabis would increase "very significantly" if the drug was decriminalised. He also argued that legalising the drug would lower the price and that many people used the drug regardless of the consequences "so consumption would very significantly increase".
While he said he was "perfectly happy" to talk about the issue, he rejected calls from Mr Flynn and the Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesman, Mr Alan Beith, to set up a royal commission to debate the issue of drugs.
"I'm very happy for the debate to continue, but I've seen no evidence in favour of the general decriminalisation of cannabis . . . We have to get across to young people that it's not because ageing wrinklies have tried to stop people having fun. It's because scientific evidence is that these [drugs] are potentially very dangerous."
The minister spoke again of the "bolt from the blue" when the Mirror broke the story about his son's alleged drug-dealing. Mr Straw said there was great anxiety in his family about what had happened, "and some of that is still there". He urged fellow-parents to overcome their fears about what their children were "getting up to" by talking to them.
The Mirror will today hand over to police tapes of an alleged meeting between two of its reporters and Mr Straw's son. Reporter Dawn Alford had the tapes and was prepared to hand them over when she was arrested last Monday, the newspaper said. Ms Alford was held when she went to a police station to make a witness statement about the meeting at which William Straw allegedly sold her £10 worth of cannabis. Mirror features writer Tanith Carey was with her on the night of the alleged deal.