MEDIA SMOKED UP AS BRITAIN GOES SOFT ON CANNABIS

LONDON - British media took a dim view on Thursday of the government's
decision to ease penalties on cannabis users in the face of a dramatic rise
in the drug's use.

Home Secretary David Blunkett, confirming months of speculation, told
parliament Wednesday cannabis would be downgraded to a Class C drug,
putting it in the same category as anabolic steroids and growth hormones.

Britons, among the heaviest users of weed in Europe, will soon be able to
own and smoke small quantities in private without fear of prosecution as a
result of the law change.

"Blunkett gambles with our children," thundered the Sun tabloid across its
front page. "The Home Secretary is taking one of the biggest risks of his
career," it added in an editorial.

Opposition politicians accused the Labor government of sending mixed
messages to the young, making it unclear whether the government believed
smoking dope was good or bad.

The government was downgrading but not decriminalizing possession or usage.
At the same time it was doubling to 10 years the possible jail term for
dealing in cannabis, they noted.

The Times took a somewhat calmer but nonetheless damning view of the
announcement that follows a trial of softened police approach to the drug
in the crime-ridden south London suburb of Brixton.

"The Blunkett formula is not entirely inconsistent, merely hypocritical,"
it said in an editorial. "It is very unlikely to be dangerous, but it is
quite unnecessarily muddled."

The right-leaning Daily Telegraph simply wrote off the government
initiative as "Dopey policy."

"Blunkett is trying to get the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, he seems
much more likely to end up with the worst," it added.

A report published late last year showed cannabis is the most commonly used
illegal drug in the 15-nation European Union, with at least 1 in 10 adults
in the bloc having used it. Some 5 million people in Britain regularly use
cannabis, and government data shows its use has risen sharply over the past
two decades.

"Spliffing!" observed the Daily Mirror tabloid.

"It is hard to over-estimate the magnitude of this error, the lethal threat
it poses to our children, and the depth of ignorance and sheer willful
irresponsibility that it represents on the part of the government," the
Daily Mail said.

But the left-leaning Guardian rode to the rescue of Blunkett, praising his
foresight and courage in bowing to the inevitable.

"Blunkett the brave," it headlined its editorial. "The minister has
declined to downgrade Ecstasy from categories A to B, as reformers wanted,
but Blunkett has made a good start."