Elton tells MSPs: Drugs should be legalised

[Lunar Loops]

Not heard much from the man of late, but he is at least talking sense here. Strange that his opinion should be sought though purely on the basis of a TV interview. This was taken from the Scotsman yesterday (http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=808472006) :
Elton tells MSPs: Drugs should be legalised

SCOTT MACNAB
COMEDIAN and writer Ben Elton last night called for drugs to be legalised, in a speech in front of MSPs at the Scottish Parliament.
The man behind Blackadder and The Young Ones told the cross-party group on drugs and alcohol misuse that narcotics are so readily available in society that UK drugs policy has failed.
He said it just allowed organised, drug-dealing cartels to prosper.
He said the recent saga over model Kate Moss's use of cocaine exposed hypocritical attitudes in society in the UK towards controlled drugs.
"The real problem is not the drugs; it's the criminalisation of the community," he said.
"And the fact is that this vast nation of social criminals, of whom you are all acquainted, is linked arterially to a corrosive, cancerous core of real criminals. Desperate, heavily armed, ruthless, callous, murderous real criminals."
The law is a "contemptible ass", he added. "The law is effectively the number one sponsor of organised crime."
The comedian said he does not take illegal drugs, but the current system had created a ghettoised society. Prohibition in the US had proven a complete failure.
"The logical answer appears to be legalising [drugs]," he said. "One thing is certain, doing nothing is not an option. The crisis is under way and it's a crisis created by the law, but from which the law offers us no protection."
Elton was invited to the parliament after his stance on drugs was brought to attention of Stewart Stevenson, MSP, following a TV interview.
Drugs classification is not within Holyrood's powers, but a matter for the UK government at Westminster.