POLICE POLICY IS HAZY OVER PUBLIC SMOKING OF CANNABIS

CANNABIS users face "postcode policing" because of widespread confusion
over the legal downgrading of the drug.

Police in some areas are promising a new laissez-faire attitude to
cannabis, while others have pledged a hard-line approach.

In the City of London, for example, people who smoke the drug in public may
escape arrest even if caught half a dozen times, while in Hull they will
probably be prosecuted on the second offence. In Nottingham, people smoking
the drug in their living rooms or gardens could be arrested, but in Durham
they may be able to smoke with impunity in public parks and gardens.

The confusion follows the downgrading of cannabis, from last Thursday, from
a Class B to a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Police
officers have been given discretionary powers now that on-the-spot warnings
have replaced automatic arrest for possession of the drug. In Manchester,
for example, police have such wide discretion that there are circumstances
where someone can smoke on a street corner without risk of arrest while in
another part of the same city a householder could be prosecuted for smoking
in his own back yard.

People deemed to be flouting the law by smoking cannabis in deserted public
places in Aberystwyth are likely to be arrested, but in Lincoln they could
expect to get away with a warning.

The biggest trap for users is in Scotland, where officers remain under
orders to detain everyone found with cannabis.

Police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have been issued with
guidance by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) on when to
arrest and when to give a warning.

The new rules mean that there is a presumption against arrest, but a survey
by The Times of the 44 police forces outside Scotland shows wide
discrepancies in the way that the exceptions are applied.

Acpo is anticipating legal challenges in the courts by people who are
arrested instead of given warnings.

Exceptions include when cannabis is smoked "in public view" or when an
offender is found to possess the drug "in the vicinity" of locations where
children congregate, such as schools, youth clubs and playgroups. No
attempt is made to define such terms, so police forces, and in many regions
the officers themselves, have been left to decide for themselves what is meant.

A further reason for arrest is when users are found to be repeat offenders,
yet no guidance has been issued to determine how many warnings someone can
receive before arrest is deemed necessary.

The way the police record warnings also differs. Most forces follow Acpo
and Home Office advice to log warnings only on local police databases but a
handful, including Bedfordshire Police, will record them on the national
database. This means that users who travel around the country can get
caught in several regions without their previous warnings showing up.