SHARP RISE IN CONVICTIONS A BLOW TO PRO-CANNABIS LOBBY

The number of people convicted for cannabis possession has more than
doubled in the past six years to over 40,000 a year, according to new Home
Office figures which deal a bodyblow to the idea that the police are taking
a more lenient approach to soft drugs.

This evidence of the increasingly tough enforcement of the drug laws in
Britain coincides with a decision by the country's chief constables to
start introducing drug testing for police officers for alcohol and illegal
substances.

New guidelines will recommend drug testing initially for new recruits and
then for those in specialist squads such as firearms units.

Although primarily designed as a welfare policy, those who fail to take the
tests or test positive for illegal drugs will face disciplinary action.

The Home Office figures published yesterday confirm conventional wisdom
that there has been a sharp rise in the number of occasions that the police
let off with a caution somebody found in possession of cannabis. But they
explode the myth that this has been accompanied by a rapid decline in
criminal prosecution for cannabis possession.

The number of people convicted for cannabis possession rose in England and
Wales from 26,600 in 1996 to 40,199 in 1998. During the same period the
numbers of people arrested for cannabis possession and released with a
caution rose from 38,000 to 48,000.

Drugs law reform campaigners last night were dismayed by the official figures.

The influential Police Foundation report published last month called for
the depenalisation of cannabis possession so that prosecution in the courts
would become the exception rather than the rule.

Figures giving a breakdown for 1998 show that more than 60% of those
arrested for all drug offences in Gloucestershire and Cleveland were
released with a caution, compared with fewer than 30% of those arrested for
the same offence in West Yorkshire, Thames Valley and Durham.

On Merseyside and in the Thames Valley drug offenders were much more likely
to be convicted and fined.

In Durham, 25% of convicted drug offenders are sent to prison, in South
Yorkshire 15% and in Humberside 14%. Jail is least likely to be the outcome
for cannabis smokers arrested in Surrey (4%) and Gloucestershire (3%).

In London, where the bulk of drug offenders are arrested, 61% are
cautioned, 22% fined and 5% imprisoned.

A Home Office spokesman said it was difficult to explain the sharp increase
in both convictions and cautioning by the police for cannabis possession in
the last two years but that it could reflect a growth in the numbers using
cannabis or a tougher enforcement regime.

Drug law reform campaigners put the blame on police guidelines, issued
three years ago, designed to reduce the amount of repeat cautioning of
offenders.

Danny Kushlick of the drugs campaign Transform said: "These figures show
that decriminalisation is as far away as ever."