Letter: Cannabis hypocrisy

I CONGRATULATE David Prior, Conservative MP for Norfolk North, for admitting that he smoked cannabis for several years in his youth ("Cannabis may be made legal for medical use", 16 March).

This comes at a time when a poll of new MPs revealed that 20 per cent have tried an illegal drug. Yet so far the number that have announced it publicly can be counted on one hand.

Almost every adult has either taken an illegal drug or known someone who has and not reported them. For a government to ban a remarkably safe plant like cannabis, whilst profiting from the trade in dangerous legal drugs like alcohol, is hypocritical. To publicly support prohibition whilst concealing their own "law-breaking" past is downright dishonest. One thing this country does not need is a House of Commons full of liars and hypocrites.