A CRUSADING church minister, who wants all drugs to be legalised, has called off plans to form her own reform group after an apathetic response from residents.

As revealed in the Argus last month, Reverend Linda Price, a Gwent Presbyterian and Unitarian minister who lives at Clydach near Abergavenny, claimed heroin could be bought in any town "in less time than it takes to buy a pizza". She feels the current drug laws are a failure and the government is fighting a losing battle.

The radical thinking reverend who says "it is time to decriminalise all drugs" organised a meeting at Llanover Retreat, Abergavenny on September 15, to rouse support and get her Crusaders reform group off the ground.

But despite publicity in the Argus and other local media, not a single new member attended the meeting, prompting the minister and her handful of Crusaders to disband. However, Ms Price and her fellow Crusaders have refused to accept defeat in their call to establish a controlled and monitored legalisation of drugs and have joined Bristol- based drug reform group Transform.

She told the Argus: "Nobody turned up to that meeting but, no, I wasn't disappointed really as I left it open to people whether it was something they had an interest in. The group has been put off and those involved have now gone with Transform."

The minister, whose daughter's partner died following a drug addiction, told the Argus in August that trafficking would be made futile if the "astronomical amounts of money" were removed from the black market.

Ms Price said: "Addiction has no set pattern. Some victims have not been loved and wanted but many have.

"One was my daughter's partner whose funeral service I took part in a year ago. He did not fit the picture of a poor, neglected no-hoper that society likes to envisage." She added: "Illegal heroin can be bought in any town in less time than it takes to buy a pizza. The law is impotent."

But her views clashed with those of Monmouth AM David Davies who stressed better education was the best way to fight the "unacceptable" drug problem in the UK.