CANNABIS CONFUSION

NEW POLICE guidelines on how to deal with cannabis users have been branded
confusing by an Essex campaigner.

The Association of Chief Police Officers issued the new rules before the drug
is lowered from Class B to Class C early next year

But senior officers did not set a maximum weight at which smokers can claim
their supply is for personal use only. Possession of cannabis is not ordinarily
an arrestable offence, unless users are repeatedly found with the drug or smoke
it near children. And the decision to downgrade cannabis will free police to
target Class A drugs stich as heroin.

But Don Barnard, Chelmsford spokesperson for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance,
said it was "no change"

He told The Enquirer:"Nobody's got the foggiest idea what it all means. As far
as I'm concerned it doesn't go far enough.

"It will help save money for police but it will do nothing for the poor
cannabis user; who can still be arrested and face up to two years in prison.

"We shouldn't be arresting these people or putting them through the criminal
,iustice system at all,"

Mr Barnard claimed the government had accepted that cannabis was "relatively
harmless" and did not incite criminality.

"But," he said, "until they're prepared to have an open debate we'll get
nowhere."

The government is also spending UKP447m on tackling drug-related crime in 30 of
the worst affected areas, including Newham, Hackney and Waltham Forest.

The Criminal Justice Interventions Programme aims to get drug-using offenders
into treatment, off drugs and away from a life of crime.

Julius Nkafu, cabinet member for community safety at Hackney Council, said
local police were working to make a"real impact"on all substance misuse within
the borough.

He told The Enquirer: "The aim is to find the right balance between maintaining
public confidence in the enforcement of the drugs laws and showing a clear
distinction between the approach to cannabis and the Class A drugs that do most
harm and are the cause of so much crime in our communities".