Public approve a rational approach to drugs

According to a recent YouGov poll carried out by the Daily Telegraph and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce a majority of the public think that personal cannabis use should be decriminalized. The poll, discussed in an article by the Daily Telegraph on the 14th August 2006, also revealed that the majority of the public still believes that "hard" drugs such as cocaine and heroin should remain a serious criminal offence. The poll reveals that the public takes a pragmatic approach to drug use and would be amenable to policies which approach drugs according to the harm they cause. Sadly the poll shows that prohibition itself is not regarded as harmful but at least the public is beginning to realise that the legal status of a drug is not a useful indicator of its harmfulness.