Commons statement by shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin 10.07.02

"The House will recognise that this was an extraordinary statement made on a extraordinary day.

"There are two coherent, alternative strategies on cannabis and the Home Secretary, in his statement today has not adopted either of them.

"A serious argument can be made for complete legalisation of cannabis with sale being taken out of the hands of the drug dealers and the substance being treated like tobacco or alcohol, licensed and taxed. Or, as we prefer, policy can be constructed - as it is in Sweden - to make serious efforts to lead young people away from cannabis use.

"The Home Secretary has not adopted either of these courses: he is giving control over cannabis to the drug dealers, but with the police turning away.

"But this is not just the day on which the Home Secretary has made a statement about a muddled and dangerous policy. Today is also the day when the Home Secretary's chief adviser on drugs, Mr Keith Hellawell has resigned in protest at that muddled and dangerous policy - telling the Today programme that 'this is causing a great deal of problem on the streets. It's causing a great deal of problem for parents who just don't know where they are'.

Commenting later on the Home Secretary's Brixton experiment, Mr Hellawell went on to say that it has become 'open season' for those peddling drugs.

"There are hard questions that the Home Secretary needs to answer.

"He needs to explain to the House whether he intends that the police should arrest people who are openly selling cannabis - as they are on the streets of Brixton today - or whether he is asking the police to look away.

"He needs to explain to the House why, if he is effectively decriminalising cannabis use, he still wants young people to buy their cannabis from criminals.

"He needs to explain to the House how it can be right to tell one set of people that it is ok to smoke cannabis but to tell another set of people they may be put in prison for 10 years if they sell it.

"In short, he needs to explain how, with a policy that consists of deeply confusing mixed messages, he can conceivably expect to reduce drug dependency and criminality in this country.

"Mr Speaker, the saddest thing about this policy is that it owes it origins not to the advice of the Government's chief adviser on drugs, not to a well-considered examination of the results of the Brixton experiment, and certainly not to the views of people whose children's lives are being destroyed by drugs, but to a political stratagem. The Home Secretary adopted this policy because he believed that he could wrong foot all his opponents - buying off the libertarians with increasing liberalisation, and buying off the anti-drugs lobby with a show of toughness.

"But as his own adviser said today 'there is just a sort of repackaging, a respinning of the issue to appear as if something has been done'. The Home Secretary's clever stratagem has disintegrated in 24 hours. It has presented the Government with a massive liability. And, much more importantly, it will present many of our most vulnerable communities with the prospect of social disaster.

"Mr Speaker, I admire the Home Secretary on many counts. One of his most admirable features has been his willingness on repeated occasions over the last few months to withdraw from ill-conceived policies and legislative proposals.

"It is not too late for the Home Secretary to display that same admirable quality in coming days. The Home Secretary has time to think again before this disastrous Order in Council is implemented. In the interest of the Government and in the interest of the young people of this country he should do so."