Julian Cole

How do you like to get away from yourself? This is probably a bit of a personal question. So I'll begin with my own preferences, none of which are particularly shocking.

A Friday night glass of malt whisky, a shared bottle of wine on Saturday, and two pints of beer to see out Sunday.

That's your lot, or rather my lot. The other days of the week generally see nothing more stimulating than tea and occasionally a little too much coffee. Caffeine is bad, everybody says so - but you have to get a buzz somehow, even if a cup too many makes your head float a little.

Most of us like to find ways of altering our mood. As long as we have been around as a race, we have chewed, brewed and set alight to assorted substances, just to make us feel better, to put ourselves in another place.

Exercise can achieve a similar effect, but there is only so far you can run before deciding that something in a glass might be nice as well.

And something in a glass was almost needed on discovering that I agreed with a leading article in the Daily Telegraph. This deeply shocking turn of events has never happened before, and a sit-down was called for. The article suggested there is a case for legalising cannabis. And every word made such perfect sense that my head was nodding like that of an old colonel.

The Telegraph, upholder of all things blue and British, wrote: "People like substances that alter their mood, and only strict puritans believe that they should never use any of them. A cup of coffee, a glass of wine or beer, even the odd cigarette are among the legitimate pleasures of life. Are drugs fundamentally different?"

From this preamble, the newspaper concluded: "The Government should draw up plans to legalise cannabis - generally accepted as the least danger-ous of the drugs that are widely used..."

Now it's half a lifetime since I've smoked anything, legal or otherwise, so I've nothing to gain from cannabis being made legal. If it came free with the morning milk, I wouldn't touch the stuff.

Yet legalisation would make much sense, freeing up police time and money, and ending the daft situation where people guilty only of smoking an enhanced cigarette are treated like criminals.

The Government has characteristically dug in its designer heels and appears frightened to discuss this issue in a mature and balanced way, which is a shame.

For it comes to something when the Daily Telegraph is more liberal than New Labour. Well, at least we can depend on the police to uphold the puritan view. Ah, last week a prominent group reported that Britain's anti-drug laws were no longer effective, and concluded that penalties for possession of illegal drugs should be reduced. And the lefty troublemakers in question? The Police Foundation.

And just think, if cannabis were legalised that illicit dope factory discovered last week at Breighton Airfield near Selby would be a £500,000 marvel rather than a crime - and quite possibly in line for a business enterprise award from the Daily Telegraph.

Driving to the university to play squash is a sport in itself these days. First come the bumps of the Groves, but I'm used to these impediments and support their purpose, which is to make York safer for pedestrians and in particular children.

The route down Tang Hall Lane is easier now the chicane has gone, though that may not be good for people who live around there. Approaching the university itself, a fresh set of restrictions has sprung up along Main Street and Heslington Lane. These take the form of buffers that force the driver on to the wrong side of the road. Fair enough if they do the job, I suppose. But how long before two bonnets end up kissing?

06/04//00

If you have any comments you would like to make, contact Julian Cole directly at julian.cole@ycp.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.