A NEW LEAF?

On Thursday at 4pm, history will be made. Scotland's first cannabis
cafe will open its doors to acclaim from a crowd of assorted
`stoners', ageing hippies and even a few trendy middle-class
professionals.

But at 4.01pm an officer of the law will step in to bring an abrupt
halt to the celebrations and arrest cafe owner Paul Stewart.

The former greasy spoon in Leith has been renamed Purple Haze and
painted in the same colour in preparation for the day when cannabis is
downgraded from a class B to a class C drug. But the reefer revolution
promises to be short-lived, with Scottish police making it clear they
intend to take a radically tougher approach than their colleagues
south of the Border.

Across England and Wales, there will be a presumption against arrest
for those found with smaller amounts of the drug for personal use, and
officers will usually turn a blind eye to those caught smoking a joint
in private places.

Several cannabis cafes have already opened, only being shut down when
harder drug use has been identified.

In advance of the reclassification, advice handed out by the
Metropolitan Police instructs officers in London to "presume against
arresting people in possession of a small amount of cannabis... unless
there are aggravating circumstances".

But in Scotland, such Dutch-style tolerance has been ruled out by
First Minister Jack McConnell, and ministers will this week launch a
UKP 50,000 advertising campaign - `Cannabis. Remember it's still
illegal' - designed to get the message across that reclassification
means very little in practice.

Tom Wood, deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, said
the Purple Haze experiment would not be allowed to last for long. "If
a cannabis cafe opens in this force area, there will be a police
operation to prosecute those behind it," he said. "That will happen,
and happen very, very quickly. I'm unequivocal about that.

"I have spoken to some of these people and a lot of them have genuine
beliefs. I said, `I appreciate what you're saying, but here is the law
and in my role of law enforcement I will come along and arrest you if
you go ahead with this.'"

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland
said: "It is important to emphasise that possession of cannabis
remains an arrestable offence. The Scottish police service will
continue to report any person found in possession of cannabis to the
procurator fiscal."

Ironically, the downgrading of cannabis by Home Secretary David
Blunkett seems to have hardened the approach of Scottish police after
five years in which, by common consent, they all but abandoned the
fight against soft drugs.

That change began in the late 1990s as part of a hard-headed approach
to focus resources on harder drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine.

One drugs officer told Scotland on Sunday: "No-one decided that we didn't
care about cannabis any more. But where there is a choice, we will go for
the hard drugs, which cause the most damage, rather than softer drugs."

Another experienced officer said: "In 99 times out of 100, people
being brought in for cannabis offences have been picked up because
officers were looking for something else. It would be very rare
nowadays for police to target or investigate anyone solely because of
a suspicion of doing cannabis."

The change in policy is borne out by the statistics on drug seizures:
in 1998, Scottish officers captured UKP 42.9m worth of class B drugs,
mostly cannabis and amphetamines, and UKP 2.3m worth of class A drugs;
in 1999, they seized UKP 16.4m of hard drugs and just UKP 4.5m of soft
drugs. New figures released by the Scottish Executive also show a
significant fall in cannabis convictions in the same period: in 1999,
3,485 people were convicted in cases involving the drug; by 2000 this
had fallen by 12% to 3,074.

This softer approach by those enforcing the law was also followed in
England and was one of the major reasons given by Blunkett when he
took the pragmatic decision to reclassify cannabis,

a move which exposed him to criticism on both sides of the
Border.

Dr Ian Oliver, former chief constable of Grampian Police and now a
United Nations consultant on drugs control, was scathing. He said:
"The mixed message he's sent out is atrocious. In some places, kids
think cannabis is a medicine and it's all right to use. I think
Blunkett wanted to appear a bit liberal and as a `with-it' Home Secretary."

Oliver welcomed the "sensible" decision taken in Scotland to carry on
as usual. "Parents that smoked it in the 1960s think it didn't do them
any harm, but the average potency of cannabis is something like ten
times what it was then. It's a completely different commodity. It's a
horrendous drug," he said.

Many health experts back that view. Robin Murray, head of psychiatry
at the Institute of Psychiatry, claimed up to 80% of all new psychotic
cases in inner-city areas involved a history of cannabis use, and
warned that teenage users were seven times more likely to develop
psychosis, delusional episodes or manic depression.

An English coroner warned that cannabis was a significant contributory
factor in about ten out of 100 deaths he dealt with, while others
pointed to a study of 268 murderers in America, which found that
nearly a quarter committed their crime while under the influence of
cannabis.

The British Lung Foundation said three cannabis joints a day caused
the same amount of damage as a packet of cigarettes, and the British
Medical Association warned that chronic cannabis smoking significantly
increased the risk of heart disease, lung cancer, bronchitis and emphysema.

Dr Bill O'Neill, the Scottish secretary of the BMA, said: "Long-term
use of cannabis has damaging psychological consequences and it is
well-documented that it contains high quantities of the toxins and
carcinogens found in cigarettes.

"We acknowledge that it is not as dangerous as the likes of crack
cocaine or heroin, but it is still extremely toxic. We want it made
clear that it is still very harmful."

Defenders of cannabis agree there are risks, but claim they are
smaller than those associated with alcohol and tobacco. Publisher
Kevin Williamson, the Scottish Socialist Party's drugs spokesman, said

: "The only way forward for those who want the law changed is to
challenge it outwith the law. It's completely irresponsible to
criminalise someone for something that's less dangerous than alcohol.
In Scotland, we're getting treated as second-class citizens."

However, Williamson admitted that cannabis smokers were not likely to
be particularly responsive to a call to arms. "They are not always the
best section of the public to get up off their backsides," he said.

Biz Ivol is perhaps the only person in Scotland officially allowed to
grow cannabis and smoke it. She became a cause celebre last year after
she was charged in connection with allegations that she made
cannabis-laced chocolates and sent them to fellow multiple sclerosis
sufferers.

But after a series of delays the Crown finally decided to drop the
case in July and it is unlikely that fresh proceedings will be
brought, even though Ivol has continued to grow and use the drug,
which she says is the only thing that relieves her symptoms.

"The last time I had any police in the house, I asked them if they
wanted to measure how big my plants were," she said.

"They sort of looked and turned away. God knows how many police have
been here over the last few months, but there have been plants growing
everywhere and they have just ignored them.

"One policeman said to me, `I hate to say this to you, but I think
you've won this battle.' I had a bumper crop last year and I think I
had every slug in Orkney round. They were the happiest and most
laid-back slugs you ever saw. I had to get them off with a fire shovel."

Ivol, 55, who is confined to a wheelchair and needs help in order to
eat, dress, go to bed and get up, is distinctly unimpressed by the
decision to reclassify cannabis. "This just makes things even more
complicated," she said. "I don't understand it. I don't know whether
they understand it themselves. I don't know why they won't just allow
us to use it to relieve the pain. I have cannabis here in the house, I
smoke a joint every night to cope with the pain and help myself sleep.
What are they going to do to me?" The answer is almost certainly
nothing at all. Police, fiscals and judges can all exercise discretion
over who to prosecute and MS sufferers do not feature high on their
list of priorities.

Paul Stewart is hoping to follow in Ivol's footsteps and win a very
public victory for all cannabis users when he opens the Purple Haze
Cafe. With this in mind, he has done his best to minimise the extent
of the cafe's illegality. It will not sell cannabis, users will have
to bring their own. Purple Haze will operate as a normal cafe in the
day and then turn into a private members' club in the evening, when
cannabis will be consumed, usually through a vaporiser which enables
the drug to be taken without some of the harmful effects associated
with smoking it.

Stewart realises he faces arrest and potentially up to five years in
prison for knowingly allowing people to use cannabis on his premises,
but wants others to take up the banner if he is shut down. "We're
starting a new movement: the Scottish Cannabis Cafe movement," he
said. "If the police do decide to arrest me, we've got to make sure
it's not going to stop here. Our aim is to legalise cannabis and we're
doing it for the half a million people in Scotland who are socially
excluded by the ban."

And Scotland on Sunday understands that, even if Purple Haze is closed
down, several other groups are planning to open more discreet cannabis
cafes in the next few months. One source involved in the cannabis
scene said: "If enough of these cafes open and stay open for long
enough, gradually they may become accepted as a fact of life. But we
know that any of them that become too well known will be shut down by
the police.

"They have to be seen to take action, but everybody knows cannabis is
not a big problem. People who smoke don't go around robbing people and
breaking into cars to feed their habit. Smoking a joint is no worse
than having a few pints and some cigarettes."

Stewart has written to Jack McConnell asking for Purple Haze to be
used to trial cannabis cafes. But a source close to the First Minister
said: "Everybody knows that smoking and being in possession of
cannabis is illegal and Jack would hope the police would take firm and
tough action."

On Thursday, he is unlikely to be disappointed.

RECLASSIFYING CANNABIS

Illegal drugs are divided into three separate categories designed to
show how harmful they are. Under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, Class A
includes heroin, ecstasy and cocaine. Until Thursday, cannabis is
included in class B along with amphetamines, or speed.

When cannabis is reclassified as a category C drug, along with
anabolic steroids, Valium and the date rape drug GHB, it will still
remain illegal. However, the maximum penalty for simple possession
will reduce from five years to two years.

But, as part of the changes, the maximum sentence for dealing,
trafficking or growing the drugs will increase from five years to 14.
It will also be an offence for the manager of premises to allow
cannabis to be used there, with a maximum sentence of five years in
prison.

The government has said that downgrading cannabis will help sell a
"more credible" message to young people about harder drugs. Warnings
that cannabis is as dangerous as speed, for example, are seen as
counter-productive because of the number of people who take cannabis.

The government also does not believe reclassification will lead to an
increase in the use of the drug.

The Advisory Council report on cannabis said: "The experiences in
Australia, the Netherlands and the United States are
illustrative.

"In each of these countries, a reduction in the penalties for using
cannabis has not led to a significant increase in use."