NO SOFT LINE ON DRUGS - BLAIR

Yardies Targeted As PM Rejects Liberalising Law

Tony Blair set his face against any relaxation of Britain's drug laws as he
flew into Jamaica last night to discuss better ways of containing
drug-related crime and violence afflicting both countries. Britain's
internal debate on the possible decriminalisation of both hard and soft
drugs has been developing rapidly, while Jamaica has had a national
commission examining the options since last year.

Despite a growing ground-swell of support for some degree of reform of drug
laws, Mr Blair remains adamantly against liberalisation in Britain. "I am
against it," he told colleagues at the start of a six-day tour of Central
and South America.

After meeting his Jamaican counterpart last night, Mr Blair said that with
30 murders in Britain linked to Caribbean drugs gangs it was essential that
the two countries stepped up their law enforcement efforts.

"We really have to strengthen not just our trade and investment but
policing and law enforcement so that we can tackle this evil trade that
does so much damage here and in the UK and in the rest of the world," he said.

Officials confirmed that Whitehall has decided against calls for a blanket
imposition of visa requirements on visitors from the Commonwealth's largest
Caribbean member, through which a significant portion of the Colombian
cocaine trade moves on its way to the US and western Europe.

Instead Britain will work closely with the Jamaican police to target the
movement of known individuals associated with so-called Yardie gangs as
part of a UKP 3m programme to improve the island's policing and prevent
problems re-erupting on London streets.

The prime minister's comments follow months of debate on the efficacy of
ending drugs prohibition. Signs of a possible softening in official policy
on drugs and a flurry of debate on the issue have been mooted since the
election.

Mo Mowlam, the former Cabinet Office minister who visited Colombia several
times as the minister heading the war against drugs, has urged the
decriminalisation of cannabis.

Tony Blair's remarks also come in the wake of last Thursday's launch of an
official House of Commons home affairs select committee inquiry into
whether the decriminalisation of drugs should be introduced and whether it
can work.

The inquiry is expected to include evidence from a succession of senior
police officers who believe that cannabis prosecutions should no longer be
an operational priority for the police.

Its findings will coincide with the end of the six-month experiment in
Lambeth, south London, where police are taking a softer line on people
caught in possession of cannabis.

A recent Guardian/ICM poll showed overwhelming public support for the view
that enforcement of the laws against cannabis possession should not be a
priority for the police.

Mr Blair announced a new aid package on his arrival in Kingston last night
where the capital is still shaken by a gun battle two weeks ago in which
police and soldiers fought slum gangs - it left 27 dead and many more
injured. Six more people died this weekend.

On his trip - which will also take him to Brazil, Mexico and briefly into
Argentina - the prime minister will also be carrying the banner of free
trade and economic globalisation to countries which have suffered its
impact and seek better access to Europe's markets.

Baroness Amos, the Guy-anan-born foreign office minister, said there was "a
huge amount of cooperation" over policing covering such issues as better
forensic evidence, improved search techniques - for both guns and drugs -
and the need for improvements in police-community relations.

With Mr Blair last night announcing an additional UKP 200,000 to assist
Jamaican police training, Whitehall has established an inter-departmental
group "to look at criminal activity between London and Jamaica".

Ministers admit that London is keen to help Jamaica because stability of
the region is important in itself but also because gangsters successfully
prosecuted in Kingston cannot make trouble in London.