POLICE in Blackburn fear they may lose the battle to keep some youngsters off drugs after accusing an allegedly illegal sex shop of switching to the business of promoting the use of cannabis.

But despite their frustration at the business in town-centre Darwen Street apparently turning itself into a so-called 'headshop' selling equipment used by pot smokers - and that of the council at being unable to shut it down when it previously operated as an unlicensed outlet for filth and sex toys because they could not find out who owned it - is there not some misleading piety in the condemnation of its new role?

Sure, lots of people - a majority, I'd say - would join Chief Inspector Andy Pratt, co-ordinator of the town's drugs action team, in his disappointment at the shop's new role of selling the sort of pipes and glass 'bongs' favoured by cannabis users.

It's not illegal and this shop is far from the only one doing it. But as Chief Inspector Pratt says: "It makes our job of trying to educate people about drugs much harder, especially if young people see this shop in the town centre and think it is normal.

"It is a proven fact that people who progress onto hard drugs often experiment with cannabis first ...This shop is saying that cannabis is acceptable when in fact it is not legal."

All of which is absolutely true. But who really gets clobbered by the law these days for cannabis use - beyond a police caution or slap-on-the-wrist community 'sentence' from the magistrates?

Shouldn't the law crack down on such pests with the zeal it reserves in Lancashire for such anti-social elements as, say, motorists who drive at 35mph?