ONLY FIVE DRUG DEALERS IN TEN YEARS GOT TOUGHEST SENTENCE

Only five drug dealers have received the maximum jail sentence in the
past decade, it emerged last night.

The soft treatment of dealers will overshadow Labour's attempt to
portray a tough image today by upgrading cannabis to a Class B drug.

In the ten years from 1998 to 2007, only five suppliers of Class A
drugs were jailed for life, the maximum sentence.

Nobody got the maximum sentence for dealing Class B or C drugs: 14
years in both cases.

By contrast some 372 people received cautions for Class A drug supply
in 2007 alone. Class A drugs include Ecstasy, LSD, heroin, cocaine,
crack, magic mushrooms and amphetamines prepared for injection.

Conservative home affairs spokesman James Brokenshire, who unearthed
the figures, said: 'It's shocking that you can count on one hand the
number of drug dealers who received the maximum sentence for pushing
Class A drugs in the last ten years.

'Many are simply being given a slap on the wrist. The Home Secretary
should think about these figures the next time she talks about drug
policy sending out messages.

Prison overcrowding caused by the Government's mismanagement puts
pressure on courts not to send criminals to jail.'

After the disastrous experiment of reclassifying cannabis to Class C
in 2004, users will once again face stiffer punishments now it is
back to Class B following a Daily Mail campaign.

But farcically, as ministers did not pass the relevant legislation in
time, the fines for users will not be available until Wednesday at
the earliest, meaning they are likely to continue to escape with a
warning.