Pubdate: Sun, 15 August 1999 Source: Times, The (UK) Copyright: 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd Contact: http://www.the-times.co.uk/ Author: Richard Brooks BISHOP TAKES HIGH GROUND ON CANNABIS THE high church may be getting higher. The Most Rev Richard Holloway has admitted that he has "tried hash". The 65-year-old Bishop of Edinburgh, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, took it "once - a few years ago. It was, though, a bit disappointing". The bishop is the first leading British churchman to have said publicly that he has taken what is still an illegal substance and to call for its decriminalisation. Holloway believes firmly that both alcohol and cigarettes are "far more harmful" than cannabis. In a new book, Godless Morality, he criticises western society's hang-ups over drugs. "The word 'drug' itself is loaded and it is almost impossible to purge it of its unattractive associations. Yet a drug is a natural substance which has psychoactive properties. We all seem to have a need to get outside of ourselves from time to time," he writes. Tony Blair, Jack Straw, the home secretary whose son William was caught with cannabis, and Dr Jack Cunningham, who takes special responsibility for the government's drugs policy, have all said they are opposed to its legalisation. Speaking yesterday from America, Holloway blamed the politicians "who hide behind the tabloids" for not daring to debate the decriminalisation of cannabis. "Politicians like Blair have to make choices. But he has chosen not to fight on the drugs front. There is a lot of hypocrisy around," he said. Holloway, who flies back to Scotland today, will this week call for the drug's legalisation for both recreational and medicinal purposes during a talk he will give tomorrow at the Edinburgh Book Festival. He wants a royal commission on all drugs and believes that heroin should be put on prescription. "It makes much more sense for the management of the addict. Putting it on prescription gets the dealer out of the way," he said. The bishop, who is married with three children, is a noted liberal who has long accused the church of being far too conservative on a number of issues, notably homosexuality. While he has clearly gained support from certain parts of the church on gay issues, his call for the decriminalisation of cannabis and his admission that he has tried it will raise many more eyebrows. "We support the law on this matter," said a spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday. "Only if the government was to change that law might we reconsider our view." Last year Douglas Bartles-Smith, archdeacon of Southwark, called for "an informed debate on cannabis", but so far the church has not aired the issue except at a recent Lambeth conference in the wider context of the problem of drugs. While most politicians are opposed publicly to the decriminalisation of cannabis, some backbenchers, notably Labour MPs Paul Flynn and Brian Iddon, have said it ought to be legalised. Last month Lord McCluskey, the leading Scottish judge, called for a fresh look at the law. "If you import cannabis you can get 25 years. Is the importation of cannabis four times as bad as rape?" he said. Last year the Prince of Wales raised some eyebrows when he asked a multiple sclerosis sufferer if she had tried cannabis. "I've heard it's the best thing for it," said the prince. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D