WARPED PERCEPTIONS

Drugs may open the doors of perception, but drugs policy seems bent
on weaving perceptions out of thin air. Last week, headlines
proclaimed a new crackdown on cannabis. Based on unattributable
briefings, which bypassed the bar on official announcements ahead of
the May Day elections, the stories said the drug would be shifted
back from class C into class B. That may create the hallucination of
action, but it will achieve nothing more substantial.

The stories gained credence when the prime minister publicly
described new strains of cannabis as "lethal", as if they could
trigger a fatal overdose. That is as fanciful as the idea that
sending a moral message will do any good. True, cannabis has got
somewhat stronger and - for a minority of users - there is evidence
of a link with disabling psychosis. But Whitehall's own panel of
experts has concluded that increased marijuana use has not been
matched by a corresponding rise in mental illness. As a result it is
reported to have rejected reclassification.

Even if the science were different, changing the law would be a
mistake - for it will not cut cannabis use. From the 1970s until 2004
harsh dope laws sat on the statute book as a symbol of political
resolve, yet with every year that passed more people smoked the drug.
A new crackdown now will be even more of a sham, as the current
policy shows some signs of working. After cannabis was downgraded
four years ago it became more straightforward for police to
confiscate and caution. Figures last month showed a big rise in the
warnings being handed out - around 20,000 extra cannabis smokers
annually are being dealt with by the police. For the first time since
records began, cannabis is falling out of fashion: the British Crime
Survey shows that the proportion of young people trying the drug has
fallen by four percentage points since 2003. Whether or not that is
connected to the new laws, going back to the approach followed
through the decades when use was relentlessly rising would be perverse.

Which is why it is not going to happen. For dubious reasons, the
police chiefs are backing reclassification. But they said last week
that they would not revert to the days when cannabis possession gave
rise to automatic arrest, something that wasted so much time that
officers often turned a blind eye. If the policy on arrest is not
changing, the only effect of reclassification will be to threaten
cannabis smokers with five-year prison terms. As in the past, that
threat will be no deterrent as users know it will be imposed only
rarely. But a small minority, who for whatever reason the authorities
turn against, will find themselves thrown into jail. For them, a
policy based on appearances rather than fact will come at a very real price.