Source: Reuter

British charity to mount major review of drugs laws

LONDON (Reuter) Britain's 25yearold drugs laws that
make possession of even a small amount of cannabis a crime are
to undergo a thorough review in the light of a growing drug
culture among young people.
The Police Foundation charity said Monday the twoyear
inquiry will look at the effectiveness of the 1971 laws.
The study will be carried out by a committee including
police, lawyers and academics and may propose revisions to the
law.
``Youth culture and the drugs issue have moved on since
1971,'' said Barry Irving, director of the Police Foundation, an
independent research charity.
``We realize that this is a sensitive field but independent
and objective review is long overdue. Legislation is designed
for a particular time and set of problems. Periodic review is
essential,'' Irving said.
The review was welcomed by police and by charities who work
with drug addicts.
Ian Oliver, Chief Constable of Grampian police in Scotland,
said he hoped it would look into the need for more treatment and
detoxification centers.
``I really believe we are approaching, if we have not
already arrived at, a watershed which is whether or not we
accept that drugs cannot be removed from society to a greater or
lesser extent in which case we are talking about
damagelimitation and not harmreduction,'' Oliver told BBC
radio.
A report last month by a drugs charity found that nearly 90
percent of young people attending raves or dancing at nightclubs
in the London area planned to take drugs during their evening
out.
Ecstasy and cannabis were the most popular drugs used by
teenagers and nightclubbers questioned in the report.
^REUTER@