BRITAIN TO LET POT SMOKERS OFF LIGHTLY

London - British cannabis users will soon be able to puff in peace, risking
nothing more than a police warning, under the most radical changes to the
country's drug laws in more than 30 years.

Wednesday, the government announced its intent to downgrade the
classification of cannabis, stopping just short of decriminalizing
possession. Under the new rules, due to take effect next July, police will
no longer have the automatic power to arrest a person found with small
amounts of the drug. They will simply confiscate the marijuana or hashish
and issue a warning.

Home Secretary David Blunkett told the House of Commons that possession of
cannabis will remain illegal and that police will be able to arrest someone
using the drug where public order is threatened or where children are at
risk. And he said traffickers will be liable to a maximum sentence of 14 years.

"Cannabis is a harmful substance that still requires strict controls to be
maintained," Mr. Blunkett said, insisting that he would not legalize the
drug or tolerate the opening of Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes.

But he said that the current legal treatment of cannabis is
"disproportionate in relation to the harm it causes" and that the message
to young people in future had to be "open, honest and believable."

In practice, British police already take a relatively tolerant approach to
cannabis possession. But critics including Keith Hellawell, formerly the
government's top adviser on antidrug policy, attacked the new initiative,
saying it will deliver a mixed message to young people and mean "open
season for those peddling drugs." The Conservative opposition decried the
policy as "muddled and dangerous" with "deeply confusing mixed messages."

Mr. Blunkett said the softening of the law relating to cannabis is the
result of a House of Commons committee's recommendations, and it has been
approved by both police chiefs and a committee of medical advisers.

The key part of the British change involves downgrading cannabis from a
Class B to a Class C drug. Getting caught with Class B drugs, including
barbiturates and amphetamines, means a maximum five-year sentence for
possession and 14 years for dealing.

Class C drugs, including steroids, growth hormones and antidepressants,
currently attract a maximum penalty of two years for possession and five
years for dealing. But arrest is not automatically required. Under the
proposals, the maximum penalty for trafficking Class C drugs will be
increased to 14 years once cannabis joins that category.

There are no changes in the rules governing Class A drugs, including
heroin, cocaine, LSD and ecstasy. Mr. Blunkett said he does not intend to
follow recommendations of the Commons committee to downgrade ecstasy,
saying it remains a "killer" drug. Dealers of Class A drugs are subject to
a maximum life sentence while possession means a maximum seven-year sentence.

Mr. Blunkett said that the intent of the changes announced Wednesday is to
free police to concentrate on the most serious drugs, such as heroin and
cocaine.

In Canada, possession remains a criminal offence but permits can be
obtained for medical use, and parliamentary committees have been studying a
wider liberalization.

The mayor of Vancouver, which cannabis-culture magazine High Times recently
crowned the best place on the planet for marijuana smokers, said Canada
would be wise to follow Britain's model.

"I think the Canadian public would like to engage in a dialogue about
marijuana, about decriminalization," Phillip Owen said in an interview
Wednesday.

Mr. Owen, who says drug abuse and the damage it causes are primarily health
matters, not criminal ones, said the amount of money poured into
prosecuting marijuana-possession charges is a staggering drain on public
resources.

But Oliver Letwin, the British Conservative critic, said Britain's
government has avoided the real choice between a tough stand against drugs
and complete liberalization, which would involve legalizing cannabis and
allowing it to be sold as tobacco and alcohol are sold.

Mr. Letwin wondered how "it can be right to tell one set of people that it
is half okay to smoke cannabis but to tell another that they may be put in
prison for 10 years if they sell it."

The Home Office said 104,000 people were brought before the British courts
for drug offences in 2000. More than 70,000 were charged with cannabis
offences but almost half of those received only warnings.

The new policy is, in effect, an extension of an experiment conducted over
the past year in the south London area that includes Brixton, where police
have simply been giving out warnings to those caught carrying small amounts
of cannabis.

Police say street crime in the area has dropped dramatically while arrests
involving hard drugs have risen, but critics, including the local Labour
Party MP, have condemned the experiment, saying it has made drug dealing
socially acceptable.

"The dealers have no need to hide now," resident Pauline Cumming told
Conservative Leader Iain Duncan-Smith, who visited Brixton on Tuesday. "If
the government wants to control drugs, they should have done it in a
controlled way in the bars or other places that adults frequent, rather
than on the street."