Prof Ashton surely must be aware of the Transport Research Laboratory's (TRL) research into cannabis and driving, which found "reaction times to motorway hazards were not significantly affected". You can read about it on the BBC website here:

http://news.bbc.co.u

k/1/hi/health/106862

5.stm

The effects on driving are directly connected to tolerance. I have never had an accident but would bet if I ever do it's when I'm straight not stoned. Either way, there is no debate about drink driving; it's plainly a stupid thing to do, but there IS a real debate about cannabis because it's not easy to show that driving is impared at all. In fact some studies show cannabis intoxication can improve driving skills in regular cannabis smokers. This helps to put into perspective the accute intoxication of drinking and the comparatively mellow effects of smoking cannabis.

Also note that the more alcohol you drink the more confident you become; this makes people think they can take on the world! Fights often happen because intoxicated drinkers think they are something they are not. This in the case of driving is very dangerous. Conversly, smoking cannabis does not make you more cocky or confident about your ability; it more likely makes you question it more, in extreme cases somebody may become paranoid about their ability when in fact they would have been perfectly able.

Weed isn't going to make you start a fight, become loud and rowdy, have sex with somebody you later regret, smash a few windows or set fire to a few bins on your way home from a 'session' - alcohol does this to countless people every weekend but everybody seams to think thats normal?! This is true 'drug fuelled crime'.

If you had pubs at one end of town and hash cafes at the other; where would the riot vans be? In fact I'd go futher, put legal opium dens in towns; they aren't going to attract riot vans either!

The prohibition of cannabis is not based on facts or figures, if it was then alcohol would be a class A drug. If we are trying to create a society based on reason and logic then we need to rip up the 1971 Misuse Of Drugs act and decriminalise all drugs, this way we control the situation instead of big time criminals. See the history of Alcohol prohibition for a further evidence of why.

"mixing cannabis with sleeping tablets" - If this is right; I'd not heard of it before, my dealer doesn't include a leaflet on safe useage, nor did I know what strength it was before I smoked it. It would be nice if a warning like that was written on the packaging, I'd much rather buy cannabis from an off-licence and I'd be very happy to pay tax.

One last thing, has anyone heard of khat? The UK is about the only country in the world where khat is legal. Anyone been burgled for khat money or attacked by somebody intoxicated on khat recently? The government actually did the right thing and aknowledged that they would be creating a criminal problem by criminalising this plant so decided not to.

The hypocracy must end, legalise all these substances and lets concentrate on the social issues that lead to dependancy of any kind; be it gambling or alcohol or heroin. As for driving; lets do some real studies and base our laws around them.