DOWNGRADING OF CANNABIS PUT OFF TILL NEXT YEAR

Change To Penalties Depends On Passage Of Crime Bill

Changes to the cannabis laws due this summer will not come into effect
until January next year at the earliest, the Home Office has confirmed.

When the home secretary, David Blunkett, announced his decision to relax
the drug laws 12 months ago he said that he would "seek to reclassify
cannabis" by this July.

The Home Office now says that revised penalties for cannabis possession can
only come into force after the criminal justice bill reaches the statute
book. The bill is now facing a stormy passage through the House of Lords.

MPs have also yet to vote on a separate resolution under the 1971 Misuse of
Drugs Act that will downgrade cannabis from a class B drug (alongside
amphetamines and barbiturates) to class C, with anabolic steroids and
tranquillisers.

The change will mean that police will lose the power of arrest in
possession cases, except where there are aggravating factors. The maximum
penalty for possession will be cut from five years to two.

A Home Office spokesman said the delay was because the new penalties are
included in the criminal justice bill: "This is a long and complex bill and
the priority has been to ensure full discussion of its many provisions," he
said.

"Reclassification will take effect when the new penalties for cannabis
possession are in force, which is likely to be in January."

Andy Hayman, who chairs the drugs committee of the Association of Chief
Police Officers, is at present finalising the official guidance to police
officers on operation of the new law.

There have been growing fears that the police will use the new guidance to
restore their discretion to arrest somebody found in possession of
cannabis. But the Home Office insists that, when the change does come into
effect, most of the 80,000 or more adults fined each year for cannabis
possession will henceforth face a warning and confiscation of the drug.

"There will be a presumption against arrest, except where public order is
at risk or where children are vulnerable," a Home Office spokesman said.
"The police will also ensure that those who repeatedly flout the law are
arrested and dealt with. Young people found in possession of cannabis will
receive a formal warning at a police station."

The police guidance is to be agreed at a meeting of chief constables next
month, although some forces have argued that they must be allowed to decide
when to make arrests.

The government insists that the reclassification of cannabis does not
amount to legalisation or decriminalisation. Indeed the penalties for
dealing in and importing class C drugs are to be increased to a maximum of
14 years, so that there is no change to the penalties faced by dealers.

The decision follows a report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of
Drugs which says cannabis is not harmless but is less harmful than other
class B drugs.

But it is still expected that the first cannabis medicines to be available
for more than 30 years will be licensed by the end of the year.

The government's latest drugs information campaign,
(http://www.talktofrank.com)talktofrank.com, launched last month, says
casual smokers are unlikely to get hooked on cannabis and are more likely
to become addicted to the nicotine in tobacco used to roll joints. But it
does warn that regular heavy use may be more harmful than tobacco because
"it has a higher concentration of chemical nasties that cause cancer".

The Home Office said yesterday that it would adopt a proposal floated by Mr
Blunkett this month to extend police powers to close down crack houses,
cannabis cafes and the homes of cannabis users if they pose a serious
nuisance to the neighbourhood. Leaked papers show that the proposal met
opposition from health and housing ministers.