OUTCRY AS POLICE LET CANNABIS OFFENDERS OFF WITH A WARNING

POLICE in the Lothians are among the first in Scotland to ditch
prosecutions for possessing cannabis in favour of handing out warnings.

A pilot project has reportedly already seen 23 warnings issued to
people over the age of 16 caught with the drug in West Lothian.

The cautions are handed out if individuals are caught with less than
UKP15 worth of cannabis. If they are caught again, they face court.

The scheme has been launched despite reassurances from police chiefs
that their stance would not change when the drug was downgraded to a
class C substance in 2004. The move has angered anti-drugs
campaigners, who are concerned that it will send out the wrong
message to youngsters and add to the existing confusion over the
legal status of the drug.

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police was reported to have said
today: "West Lothian is the only division where they use adult
warnings. There is a pilot project agreed with procurators fiscal."

The move is also being piloted in Fife, where officers have issued 40
warnings for possession, with only two of the individuals being
caught reoffending.

The scheme follows on from a decision by all of Scotland's police
forces to introduce adult warnings for minor first-time offences such
as urinating in public or low-level breaches of the peace, in a bid
to lighten the load on courts and prosecutors.

But campaigners never expected drug offences to be included. Alistair
Ramsay, of the educational consultancy Drugwise, said: "If this sends
out the wrong message, compounded by the poor information about the
reclassification, leading to young people believing that cannabis'
legal status has changed, then it is entirely wrong."

And Professor Neil McKeganey, from Glasgow University's centre for
drug misuse research, said: "Most members of the public are unclear
as to the legal situation in relation to cannabis and that is why
this is all the more dangerous."

The apparent change in policy comes as new figures show a huge
increase in the number of people detained in Lothian hospitals with
mental and behavioural problems attributed to cannabis.

Statistics from the Scottish Executive earlier this year showed that
cannabis-related casualties more than trebled, from 45 in 2002-03 to
136 in 2004-05.

The figures followed claims by anti-drugs groups that
reclassification would lead to increased usage of the drug. It was
also claimed that cannabis could lead to lung damage, depression,
anxiety and even psychotic episodes in people with schizophrenia

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland
was quoted as saying: "The police service in Scotland continues to
take a robust stance on anybody caught in possession of drugs. The
projects in place in Fife and Lothian and Borders are in agreement
with local procurators fiscal and in the spirit of the criminal
justice reform process."