Ringo Starr has enraged anti-drug campaigners by calling for the legalisation of all drugs. The former Beatle said preventative campaigns were a waste of money. "Why don't they just make it all legal?" he asked.

"I don't think the campaigns of the government in this country or America are doing anything. I think it's an absolute waste of resources, the way they're going about it.

"You go to clubs, everybody's taking stuff, that's how it is. Most lawyers have inhaled, they've had a joint, they've had a snort, they've had a drink. Then they carry on with their lives." "The downside of all that, like Jimi Hendrix, is we have lost a lot of musicians. But any law wouldn't have stopped him taking it."

His comments, in an interview with The Big Issue magazine to promote his latest album, drew a stinging rebuke.

"He is absolutely insane if he thinks legalising drugs will help anyone," said Ron Alexander, of the drug treatment charity Turning point. !He would think twice if he saw the thousands of lives that would be ended and ruined if his views became law." Starr, who checked himself into an American clinic after a drug and drink-fuelled fight with his ex-wife in 1988, told The Big Issue: "I'm glad I'm still vertical. A lot of people don't make it. It's easy for me to sit with you and reminisce but it's a very chancy life you take when you take drugs and alcohol."

The first large-scale study into cannabis's ability to relieve pain and muscle spasm will be held next year. GW Pharmaceuticals has been licensed by the Home Office to grow up to 20,000 cannabis plants, worth a fortune on the black market, at a secret greenhouse complex in the south of England.

About 24 patients, including many with multiple sclerosis and spinal injuries, are expected to take part in the first phase of the trial.

They will breathe in cannabis vapour through specially designed inhalers.

Marijuana Veterans Association Louis Armstrong; An Extravagant Life
by: Bergreen, Laurence    Hardcover
Featuring insights and information gleaned from Louis Armstrong's tape-recorded reminiscences and anecdotes, personal scrapbooks, letters, and diaries, this first full biography of this musical icon brings the founding father of jazz to life as never before. of photos. Online promo on jazz websites.

More about Satchmo: "The worst group we had there were the jazz musicians. And I wouldn't tell you what proportion of them were marijuana users, but it was more than half. In those days." Harry ANSLINGER Hated Jazz

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