Sting campaigns for cannabis

Rocker Sting is campaigning to stop British prime minister Tony Blair from upgrading the legal categorisation of cannabis from a class C to class B drug.

The Roxanne hitmaker fears the political leader is planning a high-profile policy u-turn which will see him vow to tackle drug use head-on and reclassify the drug, despite officially downgrading it from class B to its current status in January.

Sting, 54, has added his signature to a letter for Blair alongside those of actress Jean Simmons and former Spandau Ballet star Gary Kemp, insisting the reclassification has been a success, saving up to 200,000 hours of police time.

The letter reads: "Such a move would simply add to public confusion, inconsistency and the waste of police resources, without delivering any health or social benefits."