SMOKER MARKS START OF DRUG TRIAL WITH SPLIFF

AT 10.28 this morning, Chris Baldwin entered the footnotes of history. The
51-year-old took three cigarette papers from his pocket, stuck them
together, added some tobacco and a pinch of herbal cannabis, rolled them
into a makeshift cigarette and, as he sat smiling outside Brixton police
station, lit up.

Mr Baldwin, a wheelchair-bound spastic who has been smoking cannabis for 33
years, had travelled from his home in Worthing, Sussex, to mark the
beginning of a six-month police pilot project in which users of small
quantities of cannabis will no longer face prosecution.

The Lambeth scheme, which could be adopted across London or even nationally
if it is considered successful, is intended to stop police officers being
diverted from more serious crimes. Its architect, Commander Brian Paddick,
argues that it takes two officers off duty for over four hours each to
prosecute a single dope smoker, who will usually face a fine of less than
UKP 50.

It took 20 minutes, two joints and several shouted requests to passing
patrols before two Pcs were finally persuaded to confront the
openly-smoking Mr Baldwin today. He was taken inside the station to be
issued with the first caution under the new guidelines - which, since the
advent of the 1925 Dangerous Drugs Act, are the first move towards
decriminalising cannabis.

Beat officers will get "caution pads" so that they can warn users they are
breaking the law and confiscate their supply in a 10-minute encounter
without having to make an arrest or return to the station. Nine and a half
minutes after entering the station, Mr Baldwin emerged grinning. "They
asked me if it was cannabis and I said it was and they put it in a little
plastic bag and I had to sign to say that they had taken it," he said.
"They took my name and address and asked me if I knew that what I was doing
was wrong. We agreed to disagree and I accepted their warning."