PUBLIC ENDORSES POLICE SOFT LINE ON CANNABIS

Two out of three people agree that police should not make prosecution for
possession of cannabis a priority, according to the results of the July
Guardian/ICM opinion poll.

The survey implies widespread public endorsement for the six-month
experiment in Lambeth under which police are not charging people found with
small amounts of cannabis in their possession.

The ICM survey found that 65% of voters said that cannabis possession
should be the lowest priority for the police when they were asked to
compare its importance with street robbers, burglars, heroin users and car
thieves.

Fifty-seven per cent also thought that police operations targeting cannabis
dealers should have a lower priority than using resources to tackle drink
driving (11%), sex assaults (3%), racial violence (5%) and heroin dealers
(4%). When asked to choose which should have the lowest priority some 21%
said they did not know.

The findings will be a significant boost to those who want to reform
Britain's drugs laws and indicates that the recent debate does reflect a
change in public attitudes. Only 18% now say that the personal use of
cannabis should remain a criminal act with typical penalties of a caution
or a fine.

Some 27% now say that the personal use of cannabis should remain illegal
but the police should not make prosecution a priority. This is significant
because last year 97,000 people were prosecuted and mostly fined or
cautioned for possession of cannabis. A small number were jailed.

A further 37% - a growing proportion - say that the personal use of
cannabis should be legalised now. Opposition is strongest among the
over-65s where only 27% support legalisation.

But among the 25 to 34-year-old age group support for lifting the ban
completely rises to 45%. Interestingly among 18 to 24-year-olds, support is
slightly weaker with 40% saying dope should be legalised.

There is not much difference between the views of men, of whom 39% say
legalise, and women, of whom 34% also support legalisation.

Although it has been Conservative politicians such as Peter Lilley who have
recently set the pace over the legalisation debate, it is a policy which is
far more popular with Labour and Liberal Democrat voters than Conservative
ones. Some 42% to 43% of Labour and Liberal Democrat voters back
legalisation compared to 33% of Tory voters.

The strength of the campaign to decriminalise cannabis possession is also
reflected in people's attitudes towards the health risks involved in the
drug. Some 48% agree that using cannabis is no worse than drinking or
smoking. One in three voters (34%) disagree and believe it is more dangerous.

These figures are slightly down from the last Guardian/ICM poll to ask the
same question in October 2000 when 53% agreed it was no worse than alcohol
or nicotine and 34% disagreed. The difference is made by a significant
growth in the "don't knows", from 9% to 17%, indicating a growing confusion
in the debate.

The poll results are in line with the findings of repeated "sweeps" of the
British Crime Survey in the 1990s which showed that 25% of everyone aged 16
to 29 had tried cannabis in the previous 12 months. That represents about
2.5m people.

A total of 16% or 1.5m people admitted to BCS researchers that they had
used cannabis in the last month. The ICM poll findings also echo research
for the Police Foundation inquiry into the drug laws which found that
cannabis is seen as a special case by the British public and should not be
a priority for police prosecution.

ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,001 adults across the country by
telephone between 13-15 July 2001. The results have been weighted to the
profile of all adults.