Hereford MP Paul Keetch is 'comfortable' with eventual legalisation, and senior church officials have come out against its possession as a criminal offence - attitudes toward cannabis in the county are changing, driven by wider recognition of a need for fresh thinking on drugs issues.

Mr Keetch could be forgiven for feeling uneasy when proposals for the future of cannabis came up for debate at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference.

It was, after all, barely a fortnight after national focus on heroin problems across his constituency, in the wake of the Rachel Whitear story broken by The Hereford Times.

However, he has no hesitation in backing the conference call to decriminalise the use of cannabis, and told The Hereford Times this week he would be 'comfortable' with legalisation in the long run.

Hereford Diocesan Synod at the weekend voted four-to-one in favour along similar lines, having heard first-hand accounts from teenagers of the local cannabis scene.

"They give (cannabis) no more regard than (other generations) would a glass of wine with a meal. If we just pronounce to young people 'thou shalt not' we are writing ourselves out of the script," said Jackie Boys, diocesan social responsibility officer.

It is the first time a Diocese of the Church of England has voted to support the decriminalisation of cannabis.

What MP and Synod share is a desire to see enforcement initiatives focussed against 'harder' drugs and their dealers, with users ensured rehabilitation as an alternative to prosecution.

For Mr Keetch that means facing the 'demonstrable' 30-year failure of present drug policies by being bold enough to confront the issues with rational argument and a willingness to adapt.

Proposed Lib Dem policy does differentiate between possession and supply. A 'use it, don't deal it' stance allowing prosecution within the bounds of existing legislation.

But what the party had begun, said Mr Keetch, was a process that could eventually see cannabis legalised.

"And I'm happy with that."

Happy might not be the word used at Synod.

Jackie Boys describes delegates as 'agonising' over their decision but being swayed by the 'articulate' case put by invited 12-17-year-olds, those very voices often ignored in such debate, as to how cannabis was perceived and used in relation to other drugs.

"Drugs might be a difficult issue, but we are a mature Christian community, and we can deal with difficult things," she said. Experimentation was the fear present among parents, the likelihood of youngsters coming into contact with harder drugs through cannabis, though there was no 'convincing evidence' of one leading directly to the other.

Synod, too, saw a case for decriminalising use not supply, freeing enforcement resources to tackle the trade in those 'harder' drugs.

Delegates also agreed that action to assist, not prosecute, addicts should be among the new priorities. Current Government spending on drugs was weighed heavily in favour of enforcement rather than rehabilitation.

Virginia Taylor, parliamentary spokesperson for Hereford Conservatives, offered a dissenting voice this week. Cannabis, she said, had prompted the Lib Dems to 'lose leave of their senses'.

"I believe (they) are being totally irresponsible by sending the wrong message to young people. Surely what we want is to see a reduction in dependence on drugs rather than an increase, we must go further and address the problem at its roots."