CANNABIS OFFENDERS' STIGMA TO BE ERASED

Thousands of cannabis users given a police caution should no longer have to
declare their offences to prospective employers, the Government said
yesterday.

Although police will still keep a record of cautions, and they could be
cited in court as evidence, ministers want to remove the "stigma" attached
to their possession. They intend to amend the law so that a caution will
become immediately "spent".The Home Office said: "The only obstacle to this
change is finding a suitable legislative vehicle." Thousands cautioned for
smoking cannabis in their teens will be spared being adversely affected as
adults.

Last year, police issued 57,000 cautions for cannabis use and possession.
The plan was disclosed as part of the response to last year's Police
Foundation inquiry into Britain's drugs laws.

The Home Office was not persuaded to reduce penalties for cannabis or to
reclassify harder drugs such as LSD and ecstasy.

But it added: "The Government has accepted there is a separate problem
relating to the stigma attached to possessing a caution.

For example, when asked to confirm the existence of a criminal record by a
prospective employer."

After sitting for two years, the foundation inquiry, chaired by Dame Ruth
Runciman, reported in March. While it stopped short of proposing the
decriminilisation of cannabis, it said the drug should be downgraded from
class B to class C and possession be punishable only by cautions or fixed
fines. Ecstasy and LSD would be reclassified from A to B and penalties for
possession cut from five years in jail to a maximum UKP 1,000 fine. The
Government accepted 24 of the foundation's recommendations, rejected 37 and
deferred a decision on 20. However, the principal findings which would have
abolished custodial penalties for the private use of certain drugs, were
ruled out.

Dame Ruth said: "We believe the Government is mistaken and complacent. It
leaves us with a law that is out of touch with reality, misleading in its
rank of relative harm, disproportionate in its sanctions, dependent on
police discretion to be workable and out of step with public attitudes." The
Home Office said health risks had to be considered where drugs such as
ecstasy and LSD were concerned.

Danny Kushlick, director of the drug law reform group Transform, said the
Government's response "flies in the face of public opinion and commonsense".
He added: "In their desperation not to appear soft on drugs, they are
doggedly pursuing a policy that actually creates crime and maximises the
harm drugs cause." However, Paul Betts, whose daughter Leah, 18, died after
taking ecstasy in 1995, said: " Common sense has prevailed. I thought the
foundation report was absolute rubbish."