The Liberal Democrats are to set up an expert panel to establish how a legal market for cannabis could work in Britain, paving the way for them to become the first major political party in the UK to back its legalisation.

The move is backed the party's health spokesman, Norman Lamb, and by a former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Brian Paddick. It is in line with a 2014 party conference resolution that called for a review of the effectiveness of a regulated market in relation to health and reduced criminal activity.

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Former Lib Dem Leader Hopes to Build Support for New Approach at 2016 UN Meeting

Nick Clegg launches a campaign today to persuade EU leaders to back global reform of drugs laws, warning that the current punitive approach has failed to curb the multibillion trade in illicit substances and has criminalised millions of young people.

Writing in The Independent, the former Deputy Prime Minister says: "We are, without doubt, losing the war on drugs." Mr Clegg is to urge European leaders to make the case for a new global approach to drug abuse at a United Nations meeting next year. Many of them have switched tactics in recent years, tackling it as a health issue rather than a law and order problem.

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We are losing the war on drugs. But there are reasons to be hopeful. In recent years, a global movement for reform has been building. Led in particular by the governments of countries in Latin America that have suffered most, politicians and policymakers around the globe have started to question the status quo.

This isn't a headlong rush to legalisation, but a patient, rational debate about alternative approaches which might reduce overall harm. In the United States, zero tolerance and mass imprisonment has given way to a willingness to allow states to experiment with alternative regulatory models as Colorado, Washington, Oregon and others are doing with cannabis - and a growing disquiet at the injustice and social impacts of imprisoning hundreds of thousands of young, mainly black, men for drug offences.

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The three young men climbing into the pickup close to the Oregon border cheerfully acknowledged they were about to break federal law. Anthony, Daniel and Chris had just bustled out of a marijuana shop in Vancouver, Washington, clutching bags of marijuana as they headed home a short drive over the bridge to Portland, Oregon.

Crossing state lines with drugs is a federal offence not that it has discouraged the steady stream of customers from Portland taking advantage of Washington's legalisation of recreational marijuana sales last year. As of yesterday, Oregon joined Washington and Colorado to become the third US state to permit the sale for anyone over 21. "I've been coming across since they legalised it here," said Anthony. "But it'll be closer and it's going to be much cheaper in Portland. And I won't haveh to cross the bridge. Not that I've ever seen the cops lining up to catch us." The open sale of recreational mar marijuana has come more swiftly to Portland than many expected. Legalisation was only approved in a ballot measure last November whereas Washington state took 18 months to open its first shops.

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In "Romeo and Juliet," the lovelorn hero proclaims that "Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs."

The line may have actually been inspired by the fumes of cannabis, according to a recently published paper on William Shakespeare and his smoking habits.

The report, which cites a 2001 analysis of early 17th-century pipes from Stratford-upon-Avon and the Bard's own residence, argues that Shakespeare could have smoked the substance and was probably well aware of its hallucinatory effects.

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SIR Your article on the inherent dangers of legalising cannabis is a timely warning (Features, August 1).

The groups lobbying for this drug to be decriminalised say that this may reduce usage. In the past they have also pointed out that the costs of nicotine and alcohol addiction to the NHS are much greater than those of cannabis although if the drug were legalised, the costs would presumably rise.

But there is a fundamental reason why such legislation should not occur. Many people previously addicted to nicotine or alcohol can make a full recovery by abstaining; that is not always the case with other drugs.

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As thousands urge decriminalisation of the drug, the mother of one former addict recalls the trauma her family went through

'If you think your children will be safe from drugs outside the state system, think again' 'We began to sleep with our cash under our pillows and locked away anything that could be sold'

Ihave spent more time arguing about the legalisation of cannabis than most; more than anyone would ever want to. It seems I have to continue. Last Saturday, a petition to legalise cannabis amassed the 100,000 signatures it needs to ensure the Government consider it for a parliamentary debate. Since then, numbers have climbed further past 150,000. In the same week, Dorset, Derbyshire and Surrey police have signalled they plan to follow Durham's lead in turning a blind eye to smallscale cannabis farmers and smokers.

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Demonstrators have protested against Government drug policy by staging a mass inhalation of so-called "hippy crack" in the shadow of Parliament.

Dozens sat in Parliament Square in Westminster where they filled balloons with nitrous oxide and breathed in "laughing gas " . Many of the protesters erupted into giggles before spreading out across the lawn.

The Government plans to introduce a law to ban any mood-altering drugs or "legal highs".

Stephen Reid, founder of the Psychedelic Society, said: "People should be able to buy, sell and use whatever substances they want, so long as there's no harm to others."

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THREE more police forces have signalled that people who grow cannabis for their own consumption will not be targeted.

Earlier this month, Durham Constabulary stated it would only go after people using the drug if there was a complaint or if they were being "blatant".

Now police and crime commissioners (PPCs) in Derbyshire, Dorset and Surrey have indicated that those caught smoking or cultivating the drug on a small scale can expect little more than a caution.

The change in attitudes will be seen as a further step towards decriminalisation.

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The stench of hypocrisy has long hung over the drugs debate. Politicians joke about their own use, then talk tough about the dangers and the need to crack down on criminals. This could be heard again last week when the candidates for the Labour leadership were quizzed by a radio listener over cannabis. "I've had a few smokes when I was at college," replied Liz Kendall. "I did inhale... but that's never been my favourite form of relaxation."

Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper also admitted taking the odd toke during student days; only the austere Jeremy Corbyn had never tried cannabis. All three former users stressed these were youthful indiscretions as politicians always do. Yet they are in good company at Westminster: cabinet ministers have made similar confessions and even the Prime Minister admitted to smoking dope at school.

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At last, a sign that the UK is moving - albeit at a snail's pace - towards a realistic policy on drugs, one that is appropriate for the 21st century.

New figures show that more than a million people aged between 16 and 24 used cannabis in the past year. Now, those in the North-east who keep pot plants - the hallucinogenic kind rather than a Busy Lizzie - no longer fear a knock on their door and a trip to the police station.

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Senior police chief says prosecution is a waste of time and reveals his force is already turning a blind eye to domestic cultivation in defiance of the Home Office

If you smoke a joint in front of an officer, you'll still get nicked

The blanket criminal prosecution of all cannabis growers should be stopped, according to one of the country's most senior police officials, who revealed that his force is already bypassing Home Office guidelines.

In what may be seen as a major shift towards effective decriminalisation within law enforcement, Ron Hogg, the police and crime commissioner for Durham Constabulary, said his force's scarce resources were no longer being used against growers involved in small-scale cultivation of the class B drug.

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CANNABIS users in County Durham who grow the drug for their own consumption will no longer be targeted by the police after the force declared the illegal activity was not a priority.

In a move, which will be seen as a further step towards decriminalisation, Durham Constabulary declared it would only go after people using the drug if there was a complaint or if they were being "blatant".

While the force insisted it would continue to tackle commercial cannabis farms and other areas of criminality associated with the production of the drug, those who grow and use at home will not be actively targeted and pursued.

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Martha Fernback was just 15 when she took the fatal dose of ecstasy that was 91 per cent pure, and her mum Anne-Marie Cockburn believes, had regulations been in place, she might still be alive

On a sunny day two years ago Anne-Marie Cockburn's phone rang.

At the end of the line was a stranger who told her that her 15-year-old daughter was gravely ill and and they were trying to save her life.

Martha had swallowed half a gram of white powder.

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POSSESSION of all drugs, including heroin and cocaine, would be decriminalised under radical plans tabled by the Liberal Democrats today.

The party's push, led by ex-police chief Brian Paddick, will attempt to ambush a Government Bill to ban the sale of legal highs when it is debated by the Lords.

Under their proposals, nobody would be arrested or prosecuted for possession of drugs - even the hardest Class A substances.

Instead, police 'may' ask the offender to attend a drug awareness course or treatment programme.

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Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, by Johann Hari, is published by Bloomsbury, priced UKP18.99.

A DOCTOR hounded from Britain by the establishment has revealed how he slashed heroin addiction and crime by doling out the drug to addicts. Psychiatrist John Marks now works in Vienna. But in 1982 the South Wales Valleys-raised medic was working in Widnes, in the Wirral.

In a new book, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, he reveals how he became the accidental pioneer of an initiative to give free heroin to addicts and that it worked.

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The Hippies Drug of Choice Was Banned in 1966 but Is Now Undergoing Trials As a Cure for Depression and Addiction. Charlie Cooper Spoke to Some Volunteer Users.

LSD is often associated with trippy songs such as "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Purple Haze" and "White Rabbit". But before it became the drug of choice for the 1960s counterculture, lysergic acid diethylamide had a previous existence - as an experimental medicine for a broad spectrum of psychological problems ranging from depression and addiction, to schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder.

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Psychedelic Drugs May Have a Role in Medical Treatment

On balance, you would not be in your right mind, as the saying goes, to voluntarily take psychedelic drugs. Though the long-term physical and psychological effects of LSD are sometimes exaggerated in the public mind, a bad "trip" carries risks.

In a medical context, however, psychedelic drugs may be beneficial. That, after all, is where LSD and others have their origins, before their widespread abuse and subsequent prohibition. The British Medical Journal hardly populated by ageing, addled hippies - carries an article by a leading psychiatrist suggesting that a change in the law should foster more research into a neglected arm of the pharmaceutical industry, and allow the legitimate prescription of LSD and other substances where they clearly do serve a medical purpose.

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Decriminalisation Would Safeguard Families and Drive the Gangs Out of Business

Outside of their families and friends, few tears will have been shed for the eight heroin smugglers just executed by firing squad in Indonesia. They may have claimed to have become reformed characters in jail, but they knew the Indonesian penalty for trafficking drugs. Yet the pantomime of death played out in the full glare of the global media reminded us of two things: first, the hideous barbarity of the death penalty; and second, the dreadful futility of the war on drugs.

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Astonishing claim of the arrogant cannabis campaigners who intend to light up in public

THOUSANDS of illegal drug users plan to flout the law by smoking cannabis in public tomorrow.

Activists who want the Class-B substance legalised will taunt police by lighting up at the 'Cannabis Celebration' in Glasgow's George Square - claiming 'they can't arrest us all'.

Nearly 4,000 people have pledged to attend Scotland's biggest pro-cannabis rally in front of the City Chambers. Speakers will promote the so-called health benefits of the plant - including incredible claims it can cure cancer - as well as encouraging people to 'grow their own'.

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