THE long-awaited Home Affairs Select Committee report into the UK's drugs policy was, in effect, a waste of time.

I quote as early as Paragraph 3 : " With a handful of brave exceptions - drugs policy is an area where British politicians have feared to tread"

And in Paragraph 275 they wrote:

"Finally, many sensible and thoughtful people have argued that we should go a step further and embrace legalisation and regulation of all or most presently illegal drugs. We acknowledge there are some attractive arguments. However, those who urge this course upon us are inviting us to take a step into the unknown. To tread where no other society has trod. They are asking us to gamble the undoubted potential gains against the inevitability of a significant increase in the number of users, especially amongst the very young. They are overlooking the fact that the overwhelming majority of young people do not use drugs and that many are deterred by the prospect of breaking the law. we, therefore, decline to support legalisation and regulation."

So on their own admission, we have obviously got a committee who undoubtedly lack in the intestinal fortitude needed to carry out this study. Why, I ask, were they appointed?

The report covers none of our concerns - no legal supply, no quality control. Cannabis users are to remain criminals. So people in my position, who need it medicinally, have got to wait at least another two years, before being able to get our medication on prescription!

So we have to go out and break the law in the meantime! From my point of view, the report stinks!

CHRIS HYDE

Legalise Cannabis Alliance endorsee,

Sculthorpe Road

Blakedown