HALF OF ALL CANNABIS POSSIBLY GROWN AT HOME

Home cultivation of cannabis is now so widespread that it may now account
for as much as half of all consumption in Britain, according to a report
published today.

The report, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the independent
social research body, says that people who grow their own cannabis should
escape with a police warning if they cultivate the drug only on a small
scale. It says police forces already differ in how they deal with cannabis
cultivators. Some offenders are cautioned, while others are charged under
the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Based on research by South Bank University's criminal policy unit and the
national addiction centre at King's College, London, the report suggests
the tendency towards "home-grown" cultivation has led to cannabis users
becoming less dependent on the international drugs trade. Those involved do
so as a hobby and as a way of avoiding contact with dealers.

Under the act, production offences are defined as trafficking, and
offenders can be liable to asset confiscation, and, on a third conviction,
to a mandatory seven-year prison sentence, although some police forces
charge offenders under a lesser offence of cultivation.

David Blunkett, the home secretary, has announced a proposal to reclassify
cannabis as a Class-C drug, treating its possession as a less serious
offence than it has been until now.

While the criminal justice bill, currently passing through parliament,
includes provision to make possession of any Class-C drug an arrestable
offence, several police forces are developing a policy whereby officers
give only on-the-spot warnings while clamping down on dealers and sales to
young people.

The report argues that a more careful distinction in law between social and
commercial cultivation of cannabis "could serve to drive a wedge between a
significant proportion of users and the criminally sophisticated suppliers
who might otherwise sell them cannabis and other drugs".

It also favours the Canadian system, whereby individuals can obtain
authorisation to possess cannabis for medical purposes and can obtain a
licence to grow a specified amount. The report concludes that changing the
law so that small-scale cultivation of cannabis is treated in the same way
as possession would not contravene the UN drug conventions to which the UK
is a signatory.

Instead it would bring the UK closer into line with countries such as the
Netherlands and Switzerland, where enforcement policy seeks to draw
cannabis users away from criminal suppliers who may also sell harder drugs
such as heroin and cocaine.