BRIT POLICE TURN BLIND EYE TO POT

LONDON (AP) - Chris Baldwin, a paraplegic who says he uses marijuana to
control muscle spasms, lit up a joint in front of a police station in south
London to see what would happen.

It took the 51-year-old Baldwin 20 minutes, two marijuana cigarettes and
"several shouted requests to passing patrols" before officers confiscated
his marijuana, according to media reports.

Baldwin was testing a pilot program launched this week in London's
crime-ridden borough of Lambeth in which anyone caught with a small amount
of marijuana is let off with a verbal warning, as part of an effort to free
officers to tackle crack cocaine, heroin and other crimes.

Authorities in Lambeth say the program, which began Monday and will last
for six months, is not about leniency, but about freeing officers from
paperwork so they can address the area's more pressing needs.

"Local people have said that the things that most concern them are crack
cocaine, heroin and street robbery, so I want to focus scarce police
resources on those priorities," said Brian Paddick, commander of Lambeth
police.

According to Paddick, it takes two officers several hours to process a
marijuana smoker, who usually ends up paying a fine of less than $70.
Officers will now spend a few minutes to confiscate the drug and give a
verbal warning.

Others besides Baldwin, including a reporter from The Guardian newspaper,
were pointedly ignored by officers as they smoked marijuana publicly.

Lambeth is a hard-bitten borough plagued by violent crime, prostitution and
hard drugs. Shootings are commonplace, particularly among the so-called
Yardie gangs - Jamaican gangsters.

Drug dealers are a common sight on street corners, particularly in Brixton
- - an increasingly fashionable town in the borough despite its high crime
rate and the stigma of the race riots that tore it apart in the early 1980s.

John Whelan, head of Lambeth Council's Conservative group, acknowledges its
hard crime problem, but believes the program will compound problems.

"One respects and acknowledges that policing should be flexible. But why
run up a white flag and say, 'That's our policy, come and do it here?"' he
said.

Britain's Misuse of Drugs Act of 1971 makes it illegal to grow, produce,
possess or supply marijuana to another person. Possession carries a maximum
five years imprisonment.

The government insists the Lambeth plan is a police resources issue, not
the first step toward legalization. Nevertheless, the move has intensified
the public debate about the drug.

One in 10 British adults has used marijuana in the last 12 months, double
the European average, according to the European Union Drugs Agency. Almost
half of all teens have tried marijuana - more commonly called cannabis in
Britain - by the time they leave school.

The governing Labor Party treads gingerly around the issue and has avoided
a debate on legalizing marijuana.

Conservative lawmaker Ann Widdecombe said the experiment is the wrong
solution to the real problem - too few policemen.

In Brixton, residents are unfazed by the program.

"Cannabis is so widely accepted here, it is not going to make any
difference," said 23-year-old carpenter Harry Joe.

On the Net:

U.K. Cannabis Internet Activists, http://www.ukcia.org

European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, http://www.emcdda.org