AIRLINE TICKETS TO BE TESTED FOR DRUGS

AIRLINE passengers arriving in Britain could soon have their boarding
passes checked for traces of illegal drugs.

Keith Hellawell, head of the Government's anti-drugs campaign, is
organising trials of a machine which can check for heroin, cocaine,
cannabis and ecstasy. He believes the technology would underline the
Government's commitment to preventing drug smuggling, but his spokesman
admitted there were no plans to introduce the device "as yet".

He said drugs organisations had warned that the automatic testing would
pose unacceptable levels of surveillance on the general public. Roger
Howard, chief executive of the Standing Conference on Drug Abuse, said: "A
lot of innocent people could be caught up in something that is nothing to
do with them. Somebody may have been at a party the night before where
cocaine was being used, it gets on to a piece of paper, then is transferred
to a boarding card, and somebody with no involvement in drugs ends up in
trouble."

News of the testing machine emerged as ministers vetoed any imminent
relaxation of the drug laws despite increasing pressure for a review.
Charles Clarke, the Home Office minister who has admitted smoking marijuana
as a student, said: "If we send any signal whatsoever which suggests that
taking more drugs is an acceptable way of proceeding I think we'll see
consumption go up, and that will mean more tragedy, more sadness for the
individuals, and also more bad effects for society as a whole."

Speaking on BBC1's On the Record, Mr Clarke sought to pre-empt an inquiry
by the Police Foundation which will recommend tomorrow that ecstasy should
no longer be treated as a Class A drug, like heroin, and should be
reclassified as a soft drug alongside cannabis. The report is also expected
to recommend the maximum penalty for possession of soft drugs be cut from a
six-month jail sentence to a UKP 200 fine and that possession of two grams
or less of cannabis be made a civil offence.

Mr Clarke said the Government had already indicated it would consider the
case for decriminalising the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
However, he signalled that ministers would put pressure on the Association
of Chief Police Officers to ensure its guidelines on the enforcement of
existing drug laws were respected by all police forces in England and Wales.

Mr Clarke also admitted there was a shortage of rehabilitation facilities
for drug addicts, hinting that the Government's spending review may provide
extra funds. Earlier demands for a review of the drug laws intensified when
a Labour backbencher, Ian Gibson, joined the Liberal Democrats in calling
for a Royal Commission. The MP for Norwich North predicted that "cannabis
would be seen as not being the major problem we think of it now" following
the independent inquiry.

The Conservatives called for court appearances for those currently
cautioned over drugs.