SOME politicians and commentators talk about "the scourge of drugs" as if this were a single, definable problem. That is a foolish, potentially harmful generalisation.

The point is illustrated by two stories from opposite ends of the narcotics spectrum. While the police have been instructed to go softly, softly on soft drugs, one York mother has revealed the devastating effects of addiction to crack cocaine.

She tells a harrowing story of how her "lovely lad" was transformed into an animal by the drug. He even threatened her baby daughter with a gun. People cannot stoop much lower.

The woman's home, now little more than a shell after its contents were plundered and sold to fund her son's fixation, is a stark symbol of the impact of crack. This lethally-addictive drug strips humanity from the user and empties their loved ones of hope.

Cannabis is a very different drug. Its proponents say cannabis is non-addictive, less of a health risk than alcohol and can be medicinal. They say it does not necessarily lead a user on to harder drugs; the York crack addict's mother does not believe he used cannabis.

The authorities are half-convinced. Today the police have new guidelines which say that mere possession of cannabis would "ordinarily not be an arrestable offence".

However, those who smoke the drug in public, or who are repeatedly found in possession, should face arrest.

These changes will offer only limited comfort to one York pensioner. Earlier this week she revealed how she sends a relative on to the street to buy cannabis, which brings her significant relief from the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

Even when cannabis is downgraded from a Class B to a Class C drug next year, her relative could still face charges for buying the drug.

So the new policy is still muddled. But it will have the important effect of freeing up police time to deal with the real drug "scourges": heroin and crack cocaine.

Updated: 10:49 Friday, September 12, 2003