MINISTERS GET WHIFF OF REALITY IN DRUGS DEBATE

PRINCE Charles is joining Tony Blair in the Government's fight against drugs.  His charity, the Prince's Trust, has invited Mo Mowlam and Keith Hellawell, her drugs' "tsar", to speak at a conference on narcotics next month.

The royal intervention has been much welcomed by ministers, who have accused Mr Hellawell of failing to sparkle.  Britain still has one of the highest rates of drug use in Europe.  The latest figures, to be published next week, are expected to show yet another rise in related arrests.  The number of cannabis charges is rumoured to have fallen but if this is the case, it will be simply a sign that police are following ministerial instructions to target their resources elsewhere.

Although the Government spends more than ?1.4 billion on tackling drugs, many of its flagship policies are being called into question on the ground.  Jack Straw has made much of proposals to send criminals to treatment centres rather than jail.  But Merseyside, which is piloting the scheme, has found that addicts simply fail to turn up and has referred more than half on to prison.

Some ministers are demanding that Mr Hellawell be sacked but others are unwilling to make him a scapegoat.  They think the Whitehall system for dealing with drugs is as much to blame as any individual.  There is a continuing turf war between the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and the health and education departments, which all insist on having a say in policy-making.

A recent Cabinet Office report concluded that this was undermining the strategy and recommended bringing officials under one roof in a miniature "Department for Drugs".  But the problem is not just organisational.  The Government cannot make up its mind what it thinks about drugs.  Mo Mowlam became the first Cabinet minister to admit to smoking marijuana last month.

Charles Clarke, the minister responsible for drugs in the Home Office, has also admitted to the odd inhalation.  But there is still a deep unease about the subject - at a recent party one ambitious young Downing Street adviser ran a mile when guests began to hand round a joint in the fear that he might be "outed" in years to come.

The confusion leads to mixed messages.  Mo Mowlam believes that cannabis should be available for medicinal use and has asked for the scientific evidence.  She is also "sympathetic" to the idea that people should not be jailed for possessing cannabis, the likely recommendation of a forthcoming report from the Home Office's Police Foundation.

But Jack Straw argues that the Government should not send out the wrong message by liberalising the law.  Tony Blair was so concerned by last weekend's headlines that he summoned the Betts, whose daughter Leah died after using ecstasy, to Downing Street to refute the story.

It was an extraordinary act of spin.  As usual, the rows over drugs are more about presentation than substance.  None of the relevant ministers wants to legalise cannabis but there is a general drift towards liberalisation.  A more lenient approach is, Miss Mowlam said last week, "the reality on the streets at the moment".

Mr Straw is adamant that the Government should not "go soft" on drugs but his policies are all about treatment rather than punishment.  He may refuse to "de-penalise" cannabis but police forces are being told to turn a blind eye to possession.  He may oppose medicinal use but trial marijuana plants are already growing in Kent.

One minister said: "We've woken up to reality.  We just don't want to make a big song and dance about it."