LABOUR VOW: WE WON'T DITCH DRUG JAIL TERMS

Government Rejects Call For 'Softer' Sentencing

CALLS to slash jail terms for hard drug users were rejected by the
Government yesterday.

A major inquiry into drug laws also called for prison sentences to be
scrapped altogether for soft drugs including Ecstasy, LSD and cannabis.

But the Home Office and Government drug tsar Keith Hellawell said they
had no plans to downgrade the seriousness of drug crime.

The report from the Police Foundation - whose president is Prince
Charles and whose members include some of the country's leading
policemen, lawyers and academics - said jail terms should be replaced
by fines, probation orders and cautions.

It also said the power of police in Scotland to detain a suspect for
up to six hours if they are suspected of possessing cannabis should be
abolished.

The panel, which included Fife Chief Constable John Hamilton, said
Ecstasy and LSD should be downgraded from Class A, which groups them
with heroin and cocaine, and treated as Class B drugs like
amphetamines and cannabis. They said cannabis should be reclassified
as a Class C drug and urged that only traffickers should face the
threat of prison.

Their proposals, which took two years to complete, would see people
caught using Class B drugs facing fines of up to pounds 1000 rather
than a five-year jail term as at present.

Cannabis users, who can face a two-year prison term, would instead
face a maximum fine of pounds 500 but would normally be dealt with by
a warning or a relatively small fixed-penalty fine.

Yesterday, the findings were condemned by the parents of youngsters
who have been killed by drugs.

And although they said it was a "serious" report, Downing Street made
it clear they had no intention of following its findings.

A spokesman said: "We do not support their recommendations."

Janet Betts, the mother of 18-year-old Ecstasy victim Leah, said: "I
hope to God that the Government does not implement these
recommendations.

"If they do, it will be the last nail in the coffin. We will lose it
with the drug dealers and the children. God alone knows what would
happen."

The mother of tragic schoolgirl Kerry-Ann Kirk - who died on Boxing
Day after taking just enough methadone to wet her lips - also rejected
the report.

Marie Kirk, 40, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, said: "To go soft on
cannabis and Ecstasy is a recipe for disaster because young people
will progress from cannabis on to harder drugs.

"I don't want the law to be soft on anyone taking drugs or giving or
selling drugs to friends. I don't want anyone to go through what me
and my family endured when Kerry-Ann died."

Chief Constable Hamilton said his views had been radically affected
after visiting a cafe in Amsterdam where cannabis was sold legally and
openly over the counter.

He said: "This proved to be a real eye-opener. It is nearly 30 years
since the main legislation controlling the misuse of drugs in the
United Kingdom was enacted and a lot of water has gone under the
bridge since those days.

"Personally speaking, I felt that such an opportunity as this has
afforded for open and frank debate was indeed long overdue."

Lady Runciman, who led the probe into the Misuse of Drugs Act,
insisted the report should not be seen as a signal that any drug
should be legalised.

She pointed out that her team recommended a new offence aimed at
targeting persistent drug dealers and called for confiscation of
assets from traffickers.

They also called for tougher penalties for any dealers caught
operating near schools.

But the inquiry did say that the ban on the therapeutic use of
cannabis for specified medical purposes should be lifted.

And they said there should be a shift in resources so that the 13 per
cent of the national drug budget spent on treatment is moved nearer to
the 62 per cent spent on law enforcement.

Lady Runciman said: "The most dangerous message of all is that all
drugs are equally dangerous.

"When young people know that the advice they are being given is either
exaggerated or untrue, there is a real risk they will discount
everything else they are told."