MORE SMOKE THAN REASON

Crime statistics always provide a mix of gloom and cheer and
yesterday's batch proved no exception.

Police-recorded crime edged down, but crimes reported by individuals
to the British crime survey nudged up: it showed vandalism, for
instance, rising by 10%. Elsewhere there were signs that Britain is
becoming less violent - recorded gun crime fell 13%, and homicides hit
an eight-year low.

The home secretary's reaction was equally mixed.

Jacqui Smith was right to emphasise the fact that Britain is a more
law-abiding country than it was a decade ago. She also showed that she
realises that the fear of crime - which the BCS suggests remains at
stubbornly high levels - is a problem. In a week where one survey
suggested 30% of householders keep makeshift weapons ready for
self-defence, this emphasis seems fitting. Some of her predecessors
have been less keen to explain that much of what we have to fear is
fear itself.

On cannabis, however, neither ministers nor the media seem in a mood
to follow reason.

Ms Smith's comments about smoking dope a university (how fortunate
that she did "not particularly" enjoy it) started a predictable hunt
for other ministerial confessions. And egged on by the Conservatives
(who last week raised the issue in their social policy report), the
government has ordered a review that could reverse the brave decision
to reclassify the drug at the start of 2004 - restoring it to class B
status.

That would mean that mere possession would again become an offence for
which arrest would be the norm - and one for which jail terms of up to
five years could apply.

Ms Smith stressed the increasing prevalence of concentrated strains of
marijuana, and the (real) evidence of a link with mental illness for a
minority of those who smoke it. On neither front, however, has
anything changed since a government review last year rejected
reversing the reform. That conclusion was the right one. The
traditional approach did nothing to tackle the real risks of the drug.
The argument against going back was reinforced by yesterday's BCS.
Three decades of tough prohibition went hand-in-hand with an explosion
in use. New figures showed that since the reclassification, the
proportion of 16-59 year olds using the drug has fallen, from 11% to
8%. The police, meanwhile, have issued record numbers of cautions.

If cannabis were put back in class B, officers may feel forced to
choose between turning a blind eye and wasting time in making arrests
and attempting prosecution. If Ms Smith wants to address the reality
of crime, as well as the perception, she should step back from a
policy that would ensnare the law in trivia.