HOW YOUNG LIVES ARE WRECKED BY OUR TOUGH CANNABIS LAWS

Despite A Fierce Debate On The Use Of Soft Drugs, A Million Of Us Are Now
'Cannabis Criminals'

Brian Lace was a well-paid cameraman for Border TV until he was fined UKP
200, sacked, evicted from his house and had his car repossessed. With a
criminal record, he found it impossible to find other work. A year later,
living on benefits in a bedsit, he hanged himself from the back of a door.

Gary B was sitting at the dinner table with his partner, Jill, and their
four children when 12 plain-clothes policemen with truncheons burst into
his house and searched it for an hour-and-a-half. He was arrested and
imprisoned for six months and has not worked since. The children could see
him for only two hours a fortnight; his son became ill with stress. All
four children now have a profound hatred of the police.

Mark Gibson, a middle manager in a large bakery, was remanded in custody
for 11 days before being conditionally discharged. Six years later he was
fined UKP 100. When he and his wife, Lezley, were burgled, losing all
their wedding presents, the insurance company refused to pay up on the
ground that he had a criminal record.

Brian Lace, Gary B and Mark Gibson have one thing in common. They are
guilty of the same offence as a third of the Shadow Cabinet, one member of
the Cabinet and a Health Minister, at least 20 MPs, the US President
(almost), Queen Victoria (quite openly) and six million British people.
They used cannabis.

Last week Francis Wilkinson, former Chief Constable of Gwent, argued for
complete legalisation of cannabis. Yesterday the Chief Constable of
Cumbria, Colin Phillips, said he would turn a blind eye if he saw cannabis
used at a party. But while the public debate is transformed by a bracing
gust of honesty, the war against cannabis is escalating. Almost a third of
a million people were stopped and searched for drugs last year. The annual
number of people given a criminal record for life for breaking the cannabis
laws - among the most draconian in Europe - has risen fourfold in 10 years
to 96,381 in 1998. Almost all those offences - 89,129 - were for possessing
the drug for personal use.

Half of those caught were cautioned. Almost 22,000 were fined. In total,
5,216 went to prison, more than half of them (2,832) just for possession.
Fifteen per cent of all prisoners are serving sentences for offences
related to drugs - mostly possession of cannabis.

Two years ago the number of British people given a criminal record for
cannabis use passed one million. The Independent Drug Monitoring Unit
(IDMU) estimates that the total cost of upholding the law on cannabis is
UKP 1.5 billion a year. Matthew Atha, director of IDMU, said: 'What strikes
me is how ordinary a lot of the people are. It's teenagers to pensioners,
from long-term unemployed to people in a steady job. We've had doctors,
lawyers, teachers, social workers, computer programmers and company directors.'

A survey by the Police Foundation found only 0.5 per cent of people think
cannabis should be a top priority for police, and 46 per cent think its use
should not be illegal at all.

An independent inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 by the Police
Foundation, published in March, concluded that when it came to cannabis:
'The law's implementation damages individuals in terms of criminal records
and risks to jobs and relationships to a degree that far outweighs any harm
that cannabis may be doing to society. It criminalises large numbers of
otherwise law-abiding, mainly young, people to the detriment of their futures'.

The British Medical Association has declared cannabis 'very safe', and the
respected medical journal, the Lancet, said it was 'less of a threat than
alcohol or tobacco'.

Most people caught in possession of cannabis are likely to be cautioned.
But under current legislation, when anyone - such as the Home Secretary's
son, William Straw - accepts a caution they admit guilt and end up with a
criminal record for life. The police computer will come up with the offence
if they try to get a job in the law, medicine, accountancy, the prison
service, teaching or any work involving young or vulnerable people. They
are also likely to be banned from ever visiting the US.

A multiple sclerosis sufferer in Scotland who used cannabis for medicinal
reasons wanted to go to the US for medical treatment. The US revoked her
visa after it found out about her 'criminal' past.

In Carlisle Crown Court tomorrow, Alan Mason will challenge the cannabis
laws as an infringement of human rights. A former television producer from
Carlisle in Cumbria, he is being prosecuted for possession, cultivation and
intention to supply. He plans to claim immunity under the Human Rights Act,
enshrined this month in UK law.

The civil rights group Liberty also decided last week to use the Human
Rights Act to try to overturn the cannabis laws. The Act states that public
bodies - such as the police - can only interfere in private life if they
can justify it in terms of public health, morals or in protecting the
rights of others. Mary Cuneen, of Liberty, said: 'The possession of small
amounts of cannabis should not be a crime.'

When Jill, her partner Gary and four children were raided by police, she
said it was the most frightening experience of their lives. 'It was a
terrifying nightmare. Some of the police looked like thugs and they were
carrying truncheons.' Gary spent six months in prison for possession and
supply - he had given some to a friend - where he mixed with burglars and
rapists. 'I felt gutted. I didn't think I could carry on, but I had to for
the children,' said Jill.

There are also fears that making criminals of more than a million otherwise
law-abiding people brings the law into disrepute. Viscountess Runciman,
author of the Police Foundation report that argued for the
decriminalisation, told The Observer : 'I think it is undermining
police-community relations.'

For Peter Miles, a former electrician, the debate about legalisation is too
late. He has smoked cannabis to combat depression and been busted three
times. In one raid he was caught with one-and-a-half ounces of resin, and
was prosecuted for possession and intent to supply, a charge he denies. He
spent 11 weeks in jail and 60 days tagged electronically.

With his record he finds it impossible to get work. 'Society has basically
written me off,' he said. 'As a cannabis user who has never hurt anyone, I
am put in the same category as rapists and robbers. It makes me furious.'

Some names in this article have been changed.