EXPULSIONS FOR CANNABIS USE UNLAWFUL, COURT RULES

The high court held yesterday that Birmingham city council had acted
unlawfully in upholding the decision of a Birmingham school to expel
two pupils for taking cannabis.

Mr Justice Beatson ruled that the council had acted unreasonably in
not following government guidelines which suggested that pupils
should not normally be expelled for minor drug offences.

The two boys had contributed UKP2 each to buy the drugs in what their
lawyer described as an "experiment". Neither boy had been in trouble
at school before. Their case will be reheard by the council's
independent appeal panel.