BRADFORD'S BIG RISE IN CANNABIS ARRESTS LINKED TO BRIXTON EFFECT

Arrests for cannabis possession have risen by more than 70 per cent in
Bradford as users believe they won't be prosecuted, according to police.

Police have not been targeting cannabis users but have found the drug on
189 people arrested for other offences in the last three months in the
Bradford district.

This time last year, only 109 people were arrested for cannabis possession.

Det Sgt Colin Stansbie, Bradford district drugs co-ordinator, said the
figures were a worrying trend.

He said: "It is quite a dramatic increase and it has been achieved almost
accidentally.

"There hasn't been any targeting of cannabis users. These arrests are all
linked to other offences, like burglary."

Det Sgt Stansbie said there was confusion about whether the laws on
cannabis had been relaxed.

Home Secretary David Blunkett is planning to reclassify the drug as a less
serious Class C drug next year, so cannabis smokers will escape with no
more than a warning unless caught three times in a year, when they will
face tougher penalties.

"People are being complacent because there is a perception that possession
of cannabis is not illegal and that the police will not take action against
them," said Det Sgt Stansbie.

"When we talk to these people, they say they believe the cannabis laws have
already been relaxed, which at the moment they have not.

"People who are found in possession of cannabis will be arrested and
charged, and we must remind people that they can face up to five years
imprisonment or a fine."

He said the people who had been arrested were generally long-standing drug
users, and it was impossible to tell if more youngsters were taking up the
drug in the belief that it was no longer a crime.

"It's always a danger but it's impossible to quantify," he said.

Martin Perry, deputy executive director of the Christian drugs awareness
charity Hope UK, said his youth workers had found widespread
misunderstanding amongst young people as to whether the drug was still
illegal. He said: "It needs to be straightened out nationally because each
police force seems to do its own thing. Bradford and Brixton obviously have
very different policies."

Mr Perry said it seemed to be forgotten that cannabis is a dangerous,
illegal drug.

He said: "There is a multi-million pound campaign against tobacco smoking,
but cannabis smoke is actually more carcinogenic and users tend to inhale
it a lot more deeply and hold it in their lungs for longer.

"It's not a drug that can kill you with just one overdose but it does seem
to affect your short term memory, motivation and trigger schizophrenia.

"The health risks seem to be forgotten in the push towards reducing crime."