ON DRUGS

Britain's new drugs policy was always going to be controversial. It was
made more so by the resignation Wednesday of the country's former drug
czar, Keith Hellawell, from his position as government adviser.

Mr. Hellawell's resignation in protest of the new drug policy and
government spin in general came on the day that Home Secretary David
Blunkett -- he of the much despised identity card scheme -- announced his
decision to reclassify cannabis from a Class B to a Class C substance. In
other words, the government thinks marijuana is no more harmful than
anti-depressants or steroids.

The arguments for decriminalizing soft drugs such as cannabis are well
known and not without appeal. And yet the evidence emerging in countries
who've adopted that approach, and particularly in the Netherlands and
Switzerland in particular (Belgium's liberalization is still relatively
young) does not offer a ringing endorsement of this case and seems to
support the view that decriminalization leads to rising drug use and higher
crime rates.

In an attempt to run its own laboratory experiment, a pilot liberalization
program was launched in Lambeth, which includes the drugs-ridden south
London neighborhood of Brixton. Labour MP Kate Hoey, whose constituency
includes Brixton, reported that drug-dealers were pushing hard drugs openly
on the streets. Police reported an 11% increase in trafficking offenses --
though it wasn't clear whether that was because there are more dealers in
the area or more cops. Overall street crime declined, but by the same
amount as it had in other boroughs where the Metropolitan police had
launched special operations.

The big problem with Mr. Blunkett's policy is that it sits on the fence. It
doesn't penalize cannabis use, but doesn't actually decriminalize it. Then
after going soft on users, it attempts to go tough on dealers. Mr. Blunkett
tried to appease growing opposition to his reclassification by proposing
that the maximum jail sentence for dealing in a Class C drug be increased
to 10 years. That turns out to be shorter than what a cannabis dealer can
currently receive, so the opposition was only further enraged.

It's not clear what this mish-mash of carrots and sticks will accomplish,
but it makes you wonder what it is the politicians have been smoking.