Last updated at 12:01AM, April 2 2012
Police chiefs have warned the Government that its policy of banning ?legal high? drugs is doomed to fail. The substances, which mimic the effects of controlled drugs such as cannabis, cannot be tackled by declaring them illegal, chief constables say in a submission to ministers seen by The Times. They also say that they will treat leniently anyone found with one of the substances, meaning that the holder could be cautioned instead of having to go to court. Their intervention is an embarrassment for the Home Office, which is preparing to use new powers to deal with an explosion in the drugs? use. The Home Affairs Select Committee, to which the police submission was sent, is inquiring into drug policy. Methoxetamine, or mexxy, is to be the first such drug banned temporarily under the powers. It will be made illegal for twelve months while the Government?s official drug advisers decide whether it should be added to the list of permanently controlled drugs. Legal highs are often marketed through websites offering the substances as ?plant food? or ?not fit for human consumption?. The chief constables argue that temporary bans are not a long-term solution to the challenges posed to the police by the speed with which new drugs are produced. ?From an early stage, the chair of the Association of Chief Police Officers? (Acpo) Drugs Committee was of the opinion that the solution to the particular challenge of legal highs did
David Cameron should not have suspended Britain?s ability to launch fighter jets at sea, the commander of the task force that recaptured the Falklands has warned. On the 30th anniversary of Argentina?s invasion of the South Atlantic islands, Admiral Sir John Woodward said the Prime Minister would be powerless to respond if the same happened again. He joined other senior veterans in criticising the reduction in British aircraft carrier capability. One former First Sea Lord accused the Government of a ?destructive? cutback. Admiral Woodward also warned Mr Cameron against changing his mind over the type of jet to buy for the carriers under construction. Conventional Joint Strike Fighters had been ordered but the Prime Minister is now expected to switch to the ?jump jet? variant. Such an embarrassing U-turn would leave Britain without a functioning aircraft
Last updated at 12:03AM, April 2 2012
A leading charity boss has quit his role in the Government?s welfare revolution in protest at the ?deeply flawed? method of assessing whether incapacity benefit claimants are fit to work. Paul Farmer, the chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, said the Government had refused to listen to criticisms of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and that his position was ?no longer tenable?. The Government is retesting the 1.5 million incapacity benefit claimants and its early estimates suggest that 37 per cent are fit for work, with a further 34 per cent well enough to prepare for a return to work. Mr Farmer was the charity representative on a four-member panel appointed by the Government to improve the WCA. However, in a letter to the Employment Minister Chris Grayling, he said problems were being ?seriously underestimated?. He said that people
Last updated at 12:01AM, April 2 2012
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