Wrong signal on drugs

WITH the pernicious new phenomenon of ‘county lines’ gangs, an epidemic of knife crime partly related to narcotics now creeping north of the Border, and copious evidence linking ‘soft drugs’ with schizophrenia, what a moment for ex-Met Police Commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe to call for a debate on legalising cannabis. At Scotland Yard, Hogan-Howe was hardly an unqualified success, presiding over a string of embarrassments including the bogus VIP paedophile inquiry, ‘Plebgate’ and the abortive prosecutions of dozens of journalists. Isn’t it time he treated us to a period of dignified silence?