Pubdate: Sun, 16 Apr 2000 Source: Sunday Times (UK) Copyright: 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd. Contact: http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/ Author: James Morris, DRIVE OUT DRUGS NORM? The bottom line of this debate is one of freedom of choice - in a land where I am allowed to choose whether to walk the streets late at night, I should have the right to choose whether to smoke cannabis. Phillips suggests that the key difference between alcohol and drugs is that drugs are a ''marginalised and feared phenomenon''. This is clearly false of cannabis: today's youth view a few joints as central to their social life and, in contrast to having a few pints, they do not feel aggressive and boisterous but pleasantly relaxed. Where ''millions of people are prepared to breach moral norms'', one wonders whether they really are norms. James Morris, Cambridge - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea