LET'S KEEP POP MUSIC CLEAN, SAYS DRUG TSAR

TheGovernment's Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator, Keith Hellawell, has asked record producers to stop portraying drugs as fashionable and an everyday part of popular music culture.

He has asked them to be aware of glamorising drugs in songs and videos.  Young people were dying because of drug promotion, he said.  There have been a number of cases involving pop stars singing about the joys of taking illegal substances.

Champagne Supernova by Oasis and Born Slippy by Underworld, used in the film Trainspotting, have drug references.  Noel Gallagher of Oasis once said that taking drugs was as normal as having a cup of tea, although he says he no longer takes cocaine.

"Drug Tsar" Hellawell has also written to the producers of television's four biggest soap operas urging them to take a responsible attitude to drugs in storylines.  In an interview yesterday on BBC's Breakfast with Frost, Mr Hellawell said: "Mums and dads are worried to death about the messages their children are given."

He made clear that he was firmly opposed to decriminalising cannabis and there were no plans to legalise the drug for recreational use.  But he said that most people favoured legalisation to treat medical conditions and the Government was developing licences to test cannabis to treat acute pain and serious illnesses.

Mr Hellawell has been criticised for signalling that cannabis had been degraded in the fight against drugs, with top priority now being class "A" substances.  But he said those caught in possession of cannabis on more than one occasion would face prison.