Before we rush to legalise cannabis, let's think about the mental health issues, says Sharon Griffiths.

If booze were invented now we'd ban it straightaway. We don't let people buy more than two packets of painkillers, so letting 18 year olds go off with a trolley full of alcohol seems bizarre.

As for cannabis, which even William Hague now wants to legalise…

Of course it should be available for medical use. But otherwise? We should keep it as controlled as we can for as long as we can and that means keeping it illegal, however loosely and however hard the battle.

We're going through an epidemic of many young people, especially young men, suffering serious mental health issues, often leading to suicide.

Some, of course, have never used either drugs or alcohol. But many have. And how can you think straight if you've been gently frying your brain for years?

As a child of the Sixties I never thought I'd call for cannabis to stay banned, with even stricter controls if need be. But cannabis has played its part in condemning too many young men to life in a nightmare. Don't let's make it even worse for them.