What simply does not work is the system of severe penalties for producing, transhipping and selling substances deemed illegal.

During my first four years as a National MP I initiated four policy papers, three of which were ultimately embraced as party policy.

But the fourth, to legalise drugs, failed miserably.

By the time I articulated my views on this subject in my second book, The Beat to the Beehive, I had wimped out under internal National Party pressure and merely articulated a case to study, in depth, the consequences of legalising cannabis, and to consider changes in that direction.

[continues 700 words]