The war on drugs wasn't lost - it was never fought...

Contrast the sentence meted out to someone possessing illegal drugs in Dubai to that over here.

Some Radio 1 DJ who I had never heard of has been jailed for four years in Dubai for possession of cannabis.

We are not talking about supplying cannabis - he had 0.076oz of the drug in a pair of trousers - so that was almost certainly for personal use. The sentencing guidelines in Dubai for drug possession range from four years to death.

Possession of that small an amount would not even result in a caution in the UK where some senior policemen are calling for the decriminalisation of all drugs.

The policemen in question claim that the war on drugs is lost. I would argue that far from being lost, it was never fought. When so-called "leaders" like Brian Paddick - who now wants to be mayor of London - introduce a softly-softly approach to drugs, you know that the authorities are not serious.

Imagine the outcry if someone in Britain was sentenced to four years of porridge for possession of less than a quarter of an ounce of cannabis.

Yet if the police pursued an anti-drugs policy with the zeal they prosecute motorists, we, too, would not have a drugs problem and useless police would not talk about the war on drugs being lost.