THE Home Secretary's intention to reclassify cannabis has again prompted a lobby to 'legalise' it.

I declare my opposition, if only on the practicalities. Cannabis is a mood altering drug that affects many brain functions.

Were it available on prescription it would come with warnings about driving, operating machinery and so on.

It remains illegal in 99 per cent of the world, so there is no reliable market.

'Wholesalers' buy and sell illegally, at vast profit, to local networks of 'dealers'.

No-one is completely sure about what they are getting, there is no tax element, no regulation.

A 'legal' market would first need a licensed industry to cultivate, process and market the product.

To avoid being accessories in international crime, this country would have to maintain its ban on importation and export and 'grow our own'. In our climate, this would be difficult and costly.

The government would surely want to tax it like tobacco, making it very expensive. It would need regulation, quality control and proper labelling, including any health warnings.

Marketing and advertising would need controls.

Doubtless, marketing would encourage sales of high potency, high price brands.

Fashion would dictate brands the impressionable or young want to be seen using.

Many poorer people who already rely on the escape provided by cigarettes and alcohol could do without added pressure to buy cannabis.

What age would we like to see our children using cannabis? Ten, 14, 16? Who will pay for them to buy it, or will more resort to crime for it?

The established market in smuggled cigarettes shows the cannabis street market would remain, on which crime would continue to thrive.

One alternative is simply to ignore open but illegal sale in 'cannabis cafes' as in Holland.

There, this is linked with prostitution, hard drugs, international and petty crime, in a seedy environment of 'red light' zones where law enforcement is minimal.

We can now make informed choices that were not available to our predecessors when the use of alcohol and tobacco were first allowed.

There are a hundred other things we might not allow if we could re-run history: atomic weapons, cars, the devastation of rain forests, but we cannot turn back time.

If we start the clock ticking to legalise cannabis, will we be able to stop it if we want, or control the consequences?

TONY HALL,

Fullers End,

Kingsdon Lane,

Harlow

November 14, 2001 8:21