DRUGS TSAR WARNS OF CANNABIS CRIME WAVE

The controversy over Britain's cannabis laws took a new twist last night
when the Government's former 'drugs tsar' launched a blistering attack on
the policy, claiming that crime would soar as a result of increased dealing.

In an interview with The Observer, Keith Hellawell, who announced that he
was quitting the post last week, said the public now thought the Government
had gone 'soft on drugs'.

He confirmed that he was writing a 'tell all' book. Published by Harper
Collins in the autumn, it will increase the controversy around official
drugs strategy.

Hellawell will say that he was knifed in the back by Whitehall officials
who launched a vicious spin campaign to undermine him over the last year.

Hellawell also revealed that the Prime Minister was against any moves to
downgrade cannabis to a Class C drug until after the general election last
year.

'He [the Prime Minister] was absolutely clear there was no change on the
law, no softening on cannabis,' Hellawell said. 'They didn't want to be
seen as going soft on drugs.

'It was to be a common sense approach. The central issue was the drugs that
do most harm - heroin and cocaine. It was to be a single-minded approach;
cannabis was a distraction from the main show.'

Hellawell's statement will fuel speculation that Downing Street is still
nervous about last week's decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class C drug.

The drugs tsar revealed that he had warned Tony Blair by letter last summer
that new rumours that cannabis law was to be relaxed had to be rebutted. It
was only 48 hours later that Downing Street began a briefing operation that
the policy had not changed.

Although Home Secretary David Blunkett, who drove through the cannabis move
in the teeth of fierce opposition, coupled the decision with an increase in
sentences for cannabis dealers, Hella-well said people would 'think it was
all right' to take the drug.

'The real issue is that the way the Government has handled the change in
policy on cannabis is causing confusion, the consequences of which will be
de facto decriminalisation of cannabis, because the police will not act,
because they don't act in relation to Valium and anabolic steroids [two
other Class C drugs].'

Asked directly whether the change in the law would lead to more
drug-taking, Hellawell said: 'The evidence from elsewhere is that it does.
The people who have been deterred from taking canna-bis because it is
illegal will certainly have the impression that it is all right to do it.'

Asked if there would also be a connected increase in crime, he replied: 'Yes.'

Hellawell said that his original 10-year strategy on drugs, agreed by the
Prime Minister and the former Home Secretary, Jack Straw, had been badly
undermined by the new cannabis initiatives.

'They pre-empted everything with a huge blood-letting about how bad I was,
how awful I was,' he said. 'It all came out after the last election and
clearly they are regurgitating that now.

'Everyone has been quite happy to put the knife into me. The Government was
clearing the decks for this experiment, and I was in the way.

'Between then and now there has been a denial that there has been a
strategy in place, a void has been created to leave the impression that
this week's announcement is something new and is going to help progress on
this issue.

'This is part of the spin machine, they like to make announcements, they
like to show that things are happening, they always need an initiative.

'The drugs issue is too important to be dealt with so lightly.'