CANNABIS PANDEMIC BLAMED ON SOFT UK DRUG POLICY

Britain's 'cannabis pandemic' has been caused by the Government's
failure to treat it as a serious threat, the UN narcotics chief warned
today.

The British Government's decision to downgrade cannabis to a Class C
drug was criticised by executive director of the UN Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, who said that countries got
the "drug problem they deserved" if they maintained inadequate policies.

In an unusual statement, he suggested cannabis was as harmful as
cocaine and heroin - a stance which differs wildly from the British
attitude of treating cannabis far less seriously than Class A substances.

Although he did not specifically name and shame the UK, Mr Costa said at
the Washington DC launch of the UNODC's 2006 World Drug Report: "Policy
reversals leave young people confused as to just how dangerous cannabis is.

"With cannabis-related health damage increasing, it is fundamentally
wrong for countries to make cannabis control dependent on which party
is in government.

"The cannabis pandemic, like other challenges to public health,
requires consensus, a consistent commitment across the political
spectrum and by society at large."

Mr Costa suggested that cannabis was now "considerably more potent"
than a few decades ago and that it was a "mistake" to dismiss it as a
soft, relatively harmless drug.

"Today, the harmful characteristics of cannabis are no longer that
different from those of other plant-based drugs such as cocaine and
heroin," Mr Costa said.

The report estimated 162million people used cannabis at least once in
2004, the equivalent of four per cent of the 15 to 64-year-old global
population.

Mr Costa said: "After so many years of drug control experience, we now
know that a coherent, long-term strategy can reduce drug supply,
demand and trafficking.

"If this does not happen, it will be because some nations fail to take
the drug issue sufficiently seriously and pursue inadequate policies.

"Many countries have the drug problem they deserve."

Former home secretary David Blunkett downgraded cannabis from Class B
to Class C in January 2004, meaning possession of the drug was
normally no longer an arrestable offence.

The UNODC's report showed showed global opium production fell five per
cent in 2005 while cocaine production was broadly stable.

In Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer, the area under
opium poppy cultivation fell 21 per cent to 104,000 hectares in 2005,
the first such decline since 2001, it said.

But Mr Costa warned: "Afghanistan's drug situation remains vulnerable
to reversal because of mass poverty, lack of security and the fact
that the authorities have inadequate control over its territory.

"This could happen as early as 2006 despite large-scale eradication of
opium crops this spring."

The director repeated former UN warnings about growing cocaine use,
particularly in western Europe where demand was reaching "alarming
levels", Mr Costa said.

He went on: "I urge European Union governments not to ignore this
peril.

"Too many professional, educated Europeans use cocaine, often denying
their addiction, and drug abuse by celebrities is often presented
uncritically by the media leaving young people confused and
vulnerable."

His comments come less than two weeks after supermodel Kate Moss
escaped prosecution for drug-taking, despite video evidence, because
of a legal loophole.