WHERE HEROIN OUTSELLS HASH

Dealers In Brixton Have Little Time For A Drug That Doesn't Draw Addicts

The burly, hawk-eyed men loitering on the fringes of Brixton market have
little time for cannabis.

Almost anything else is on offer: crack, heroin, ecstasy, even Viagra.
The profit-margin for crack is "this big", says one, who holds his hands
out fisherman-wide. Then he narrows his hands to show how little you
make from selling dope.

They also know that while the dope smokers may come and go, the crack
addicts always come back.

As Peter Lilley yesterday reignited the cannabis debate by calling for
legalisation of cannabis to strengthen the battle against hard drugs,
people on the streets of Brixton agreed that heroin and crack were the
real menace.

In a pamphlet published by the Social Market Foundation Mr Lilley
pointed out, to no one's surprise: "I am not an ageing hippy trying to
relive or legitimise some youthful folly. Unlike many of my generation I
was never tempted to try cannabis and have no intention of doing so
now."

The Conservative party's former deputy leader compared the defenders of
the status quo on cannabis to a general marshalling all his strength to
defend his weakest position: "The problem with that strategy is - you
risk losing everything when it falls."

Demonising cannabis use undermined respect for the law among the young
who see it as no great evil, and made it harder to defend laws banning
use of hard drugs, he claimed. Citing a review of research on cannabis
that appeared in the Lancet, he argued that cannabis was not a gateway
to harder drugs.

The first drugs tsar Keith Hellawell has also reportedly softened his
view that cannabis is a gateway drug, while Mo Mowlam, the former head
of the government's anti-drug policy, has called for legalisation.

Fighting cannabis is a distraction from campaigning against hard drugs,
Mr Lilley said, pointing out that two-thirds of drug arrests involve
cannabis. "The cannabis tail is wagging the hard drug dog."

On the streets of Brixton, south London, where police are now issuing
warnings rather than making arrests for dope smoking, this was confirmed
yesterday as cannabis users said the sellers of "powder" and "bone" -
heroin and crack - had taken over.

"It is hard to get cannabis on the streets. Everyone is dealing class A
drugs," said David Downes, 37, a former cannabis dealer, who was puffing
a spliff in the street.

"If I buy a pounds10 crack deal, I will be coming back in 10 minutes,"
he explained. "If I buy pounds10 of cannabis it might last me three or
four days. And I don't know anyone who has got addicted to cannabis. A
heroin or crack addict has to come back, to get his fix."

Mr Lilley proposed that magistrates could issue licences for shops to
sell cannabis to over-18s. The drug would be taxed and carry a health
warning. Cultivation for personal use would be permitted. Unlike the
Netherland's hash cafes, buyers would not be allowed to skin up on the
premises or in public places.

That suggestion brought approval from Mr Downes: "I've been over to
Holland and I think it leads to more people who have never really done
it going to get involved, because of the excitement of going into that
area."

A bold call for legalisation would help the Tories reach out to the
young and to ethnic minorities, Mr Lilley said.

As far as youth are concerned he may be right: a Guardian/ICM poll
published last October showed that 43% of British voters believed
cannabis should be legalised completely for personal use. Among the 25
to 34 age group, the pro-cannabis lobby rose to 50%.

But there could be a backlash among black voters, some of whom are from
communities with strongly prohibitionist views influenced by their
religious beliefs.

Stallholders in Brixton market, where fragrant herbs and exotic meats
and vegetables jostle for buyers' attention, said there was no space for
hash on their counters.

"It is not the right way," said Berhane Zeru, a Christian who has a
portrait of the former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie on the wall of
his grocer's shop. "You see these young boys, once they smoke it they
are useless. If I started smoking it I would not be able to run the
shop."

Kwaku, 42, selling Ghanaian specialities, agreed: "It is something that
is a problem to young men and women. Some will be using it excessively."

Mr Lilley's proposals also ran into criticism from Dame Ruth Runciman,
who chaired the Police Foundation inquiry into drug laws, which
recommended that cannabis should be made a class C drug.

That inquiry - described by Lady Runciman as "a royal commission in all
but name" - concluded last year that cannabis caused some harm but was
less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco.

It proposed a depenalisation policy which would remove the police power
of arrest for possession, and replace the threat of jail with warnings,
cautions and parking ticket-style fines.

Mr Lilley's scheme of commercial sale could increase use of the drug,
Lady Runciman said yesterday. "What we don't know about, and the
evidence is not at all clear, is what might happen to the prevalence of
cannabis use under legalisation. There have been studies that show
depenalisation doesn't send prevalence rocketing up.

"[However] there's a bit of evidence from the early days of the Dutch
policy when cannabis prevalence certainly went up significantly.
Analysts looked at that and concluded that was the result of
commercialisation - coffee shops promoting the sale. We know about that,
and legalisation would involve that.

"If you don't want cannabis use to grow into something like tobacco or
alcohol, because it is not a drug without harm, you are bound to have a
few doubts about legalisation."

Legalisation would also involve the major practical stumbling block that
Britain would have to renegotiate or renege on its international
treaties on drugs, Lady Runciman said.

Mr Lilley said the law was "indefensible" and compared it with
prohibition in the US. "More people actually try cannabis in this
country than in states where it is legally available," he told Radio 4's
Today programme.

"The reason that it is unenforceable is that it is indefensible. The
argument that it has serious health risks has been effectively
demolished by the Lancet study which concluded that on the medical
evidence available moderate indulgence in cannabis has little ill effect
in health. Any ban on cannabis should be based on other considerations."

The prime minister's spokesman stressed that the government's position -
that cannabis should not be legalised - was unchanged: cannabis was
dangerous, it did cause medical problems, cancer, hallucinations.

"People are perfectly at liberty to express their views. The government
is aware that there is a debate going on. But the government has made
its position very clear."

Asked about the police experiment in the borough of Lambeth, south
London, which includes Brixton, the spokesman said: "The government's
position has always been clear, that the priority should be addressing
class A drugs.

"Cannabis is a class B drug. So Lambeth fits in with the government's
strategy."