Eric Forth: ...people from using or abusing tobacco and alcohol until they are of an age at which they can make a decision. The paradox must be self-evident. We are therefore struggling with a debate today about cannabis and other drugs and substances against a background in which two categories of substance that are in many ways just as harmful are already freely available in our society. The hon....
Eric Forth: Will my hon. Friend tell me what would happen if the commission, having deliberated, decided that cannabis was not that harmful and that it would not be a bad thing if it were made legal?
Eric Forth: ..., which is also a matter on which we should dwell. The final group consists of new clause 1, which deals with, as my hon. Friend pointed out, the extremely important issue of the classification of cannabis. Any one of those groups could easily justify at least an hour's debate in the House—if not several hours—because in theory several hundred Members might want to debate these...
Eric Forth: ...entirely appropriate. Key issues in the Bill—including the selling of drugs to children, the impact of drugs on driving, the role of the Secretary of State and, not least, the classification of cannabis—are of great substance and importance in their own right. Members who did not sit in Committee—not least, the hon. Member for Newport, West—should now have their opportunity to...
Eric Forth: ...the many, many friends of Lady Thatcher and Sir Denis. Is the part-time Leader of the House somewhat ashamed about the inadequacy of the amount of time allocated yesterday to an important debate on cannabis? I was shocked when I looked at Hansard this morning and noted that a mere 90 minutes of parliamentary time had been allocated to that important subject and that, of that 90 minutes,...
Eric Forth: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way to a layman. Would it be fair to describe cannabis as an organic product, like those we are urged to buy in supermarkets?
Eric Forth: ...where it can be improved. Another point that has emerged clearly from the debate has been an almost universal rejection of the arguments for the legalisation or decriminalisation of drugs, whether cannabis or other drugs. I immediately acknowledge the sincerity of the hon. Member for Newham, North-West, who put his arguments with his usual sincerity and passion. It has been pointed out...