HINT OF A SOFTER LINE ON CANNABIS

DAVID BLUNKETT, the Home Secretary, hinted that the Government may
tolerate a softer line on cannabis offences as part of a drive to
concentrate on the abuse of hard drugs.

Mr Blunkett gave informal backing to an experiment in Lambeth, where
the local police commander, Brian Paddick, has proposed that people
found in possession of small quantities of cannabis should be let off
with a formal warning rather than being arrested and cautioned. He
argued that bringing a person to court can consume hours of police
time, when the average fine for cannabis possession was around UKP45.

The Home Secretary said yesterday that he was "interested in the
experiment". He told BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme: "I talked
to Brian Paddick on the first Tuesday after the election down in
Lambeth. I went to visit there and he told me what he was about to
do. I said that fits in entirely with the emphasis that I had already
announced on placing absolute priority on class A drugs."

His remarks follow comments by several of the contenders for the
Conservative Party leadership aimed at opening up the debate on
drugs. Michael Portillo said it was "very extraordinary" that
politicians appeared to want to evade an issue on which so many
people had personal experience.

He told BBC's Breakfast with Frost: "I don't know what the answer to
this is. But I do believe that if people in politics are to claim to
represent the people of the country, then they have got to be seen at
least to be willing to understand and to address issues that people
out there are talking about."

The Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman, Simon Hughes, welcomed
what he called "the Home Secretary's apparent pragmatic response" to
the Lambeth experiment.

A Home Office spokesman stressed that the Government has "no plans"
to legalise cannabis.