Another supporter, consultant psychiatrist Dr Philip Robson, adds that "many doctors even believe the cannabis and its derivatives should be available again on prescription". Celebrity backers include Richard Branson, Sir Paul McCartney and film director Michael Winner. The campaign highlights the "hypocrisy" of banning cannabis while alcohol consumption is allowed.Paul Flynn, the Labour MP who came out publicly in favour of legalisation, has promised to raise the matter with colleagues on the all-party Drugs Misuse Group in November to try to establish new research. They include a former member of Greater Manchester Police drugs squad, detective chief inspector Roy Clarke, who said he became fed up with the criminalisation of "otherwise innocent young kids" for taking the drug. Interviewed on television he said: "What I regard as so irresponsible about those who say we should decriminalise possession of small amounts of cannabis is this: one thing which would follow, as night follows day, is that consumption would shoot up." The drug could aggravate mental illness and lead to high rates of absenteeism, he added.However, the impressive list of supporters - many of them experts - for the new media campaign may not be dismissed so easily.

The legalisation of cannabis was put firmly back on the social agenda yesterday when the Independent on Sunday launched a campaign to de-criminalise the drug. Support for the move from a prominent Labour MP will cause embarrassment for the party leadership as they begin their conference but will also ensure the debate will continue. Michael Streeter finds the Home Secretary quick to respond. The swift rejection by Jack Straw yesterday of any suggestion that cannabis should be legalised was predictable.New Labour does not want to scare off the Home Counties/ Daily Mail readers it picked up at the election, and Mr Straw's language was unequivocal. But yesterday a police spokesman said the man had left his house in Swindon and moved away from Wiltshire. "Police in whose area he proposes to reside are fully aware of his intention to reside in their district, where he must still register under the Sex Offenders Act," said the spokesman - Kate Watson-Smyth. The man, believed to be Robert Oliver, was released from prison last Thursday after serving two-thirds of his sentence for the manslaughter of a 14-year-old rent boy runaway Jason Swift.

An emergency meeting was held in the town, attended by the police, social services and education officials, and probation officers who agreed on measures to protect boys in the area. Twenty-six of the illegal entrants, who were from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Eritrea and China, were sent back to France. The remainder, discovered after the trailer arrived on a ferry from Calais, were still being interviewed last night by immigration officers. The lorry driver was also being questioned. Michael O'Brien, a Home Office minister, praised Danny's alertness and added: "This government is determined to crack down on the abuse of our immigration rules." Sniffer dogs, introduced in 1995, have helped to stop a record 153 concealed immigrants this month - Kate Watson-Smyth. A convicted sex offender who sparked a campaign by Wiltshire police to protect boys in the area when he moved in, has packed up and left the county. Keri Beevis, 25, from Norwich, was offered the deal two months ago by little-known publishing firm Buckley- Bennion.