MERSEY CONFERENCE ON USE OF CANNABIS

Liverpool will host a major conference on cannabis tomorrow. It comes
just days after Tony Blair said school heads are to be given new
powers to order pupils to undergo random drugs tests. The Prime
Minister said head teachers would be issued with new guidance on how
to deal with pupils they suspect are taking drugs including provisions
for spot testing pupils.

The conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the city centre will
welcome experts in the field to give insight into the drug debate. On
January 29 this year, cannabis was reclassified from a Class B to a
Class C drug. That move has fuelled renewed interest in the topic and
the conference brings together experts to provide information about
key aspects of that debate. It has been organised by the
Liverpool-based health advice service HIT along with Liverpool John
Moores University's Centre of Public Health. Andrew Bennett, director
of HIT, is giving one of the speeches at the conference.

He said: "We have got a wide selection of different speakers,
including the Chief Constable of Norfolk who is speaking about the
policing of the drug. "Cannabis is the most well used drug in Britain
today so we need to be able to be informed about the dangers and also
ideas on how to manage the drug." Among the people making speeches at
the conference is Oxford Professor Les Iverson who is speaking about
the drug's safety record. The medical director of GW Pharmaceuticals,
Dr Philip Robson, will speak on the possible therapeutic effects of
the drug.

A Know Cannabis information campaign on Merseyside and Cheshire will
feature messages on billboards, buses, radio adverts and booklets
aimed at young people. It gives the message that the drug is still
illegal with possession carrying a maximum sentence of two years,
reduced from five.

The maximum penalty for supplying cannabis is still 14 years in
prison. Under the new law, which marked the biggest change in drug
legislation in 30 years, cannabis possession will be illegal but will
"ordinarily not be an arrestable offence". But people can be
prosecuted for possessing the drug in aggravating circumstances, such
as smoking it in public.

HIT is an agency designed to give advice and guidance on drugs,
community safety and health concerns.

Established in 1985 to reduce drug-related harm, it produces
literature and a reference library for individuals and community groups.