UNPOPULIST ON POT

Who says Blair's is a populist government? Almost half of Britons believe
that cannabis should not be illegal, and 99% think it should have the
lowest policing priority. Yet pot continues to dominate the policing of
drugs: more than 90% of all offences are for possession, of which 75%
involve cannabis. However, ministers have again refused to reclassify the drug.

This government also claims to believe in evidence-based policymaking. A
study by the Police Foundation's national commission on the misuse of drugs
showed the classification of harmfulness by the 1971 act no longer
reflected scientific, medical or sociological evidence. The commission
included a leading pharmacologist, two chief constables and eminent drug
advisers. They urged ministers to downgrade cannabis to C class, making it
a non-arrestable offence.

It has taken the Commons select committee on home affairs to prompt a
ministerial response to the report's 80 recommendations. Only two
concessions have been made. The 50% of offenders who get cautions will no
longer have to declare them to prospective employers; and new guidelines
will urge a more lenient approach those caught supplying friends. Even the
Daily Mail found this a totally inadequate response. There will be no
sensible debate before the election, but afterwards will ministers please
be bolder.