BRITAIN RELAXES CRIMINALIZATION OF MARIJUANA

LONDON - Signing on to the tolerant approach toward drug use that is
spreading rapidly in Europe, the British government Wednesday said it will
effectively decriminalize the possession and use of marijuana.

David Blunkett, the home secretary (roughly equivalent to the attorney
general in the United States), told Parliament that police will no longer
arrest people smoking "cannabis," as the drug is known here. Possession of
a supply of the drug for personal use will also be ignored. Cannabis will
still be considered an illegal drug, however, and selling it will remain an
arrestable offense.

Blunkett and his boss, Prime Minister Tony Blair, both defended the policy
change Wednesday, arguing that it will give police more time and resources
to go after violent crime and the use of hard drugs such as heroin.

"Making a clearer differentiation between drugs that kill and drugs that do
not would be scientifically appropriate and educationally valuable,"
Blunkett said. He promised an increase in drug education programs.

"The message is clear -- drugs are dangerous," he said. "We will educate,
persuade, and, where necessary, direct young people away from their use."

The new national policy stems from a successful experiment begun last year
in Brixton, a South London neighborhood. The local police chief declared
that arresting for marijuana was a "waste of time," and ordered his police
to bypass pot smokers and focus on hard drugs.

Today, young people routinely light up a "spliff" -- that's the British
term for "joint" -- on the sidewalk in front of Brixton's police station.
You can buy a spliff just outside Brixton's subway station for less than $5.

In an assessment this spring, the national Association of Chief Police
Officers praised the Brixton experiment and urged that the same approach be
taken nationwide. Blunkett said Wednesday he will institute that change as
of next summer.

Blunkett emphasized that cannabis will still remain technically illegal,
and he said he will create a new crime of "aggravated possession" so that
police can move against repeat offenders.

By telling its police to look the other way when they come upon a marijuana
user, Britain has joined most other European nations. The Netherlands,
Germany, Switzerland and Belgium are among the nations that have
decriminalized marijuana and so-called "party drugs" such as ecstasy.
However, a political coalition in the Netherlands, due to come to office
later this month, Wednesday announced plans to tighten some of that
country's drug laws.

In fact, the newest trend in western Europe is to decriminalize all drugs,
including heroin and cocaine, treating drug use as a health problem rather
than a crime. Portugal, Luxembourg, Spain and Italy have taken this
approach in varying degrees.

"The general trend across Europe," said Georges Estievenart, director of
the European Union's Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, "is an
approach that focuses on the traffickers and does not pursue the drug user
as a criminal. The premise is that it is not in the interest of society to
put these people in jail, where they don't get treatment but do get fairly
easy access to all kinds of drugs."

In the United States, laws differ among individual states. But eight states
have taken some kind of step toward permitting marijuana for medicinal use:
California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada and Colorado.

The U.S. Supreme Court, however, ruled last year that there was no
exception in federal law for people to use marijuana, so even those with
tolerant state laws could face arrest if they do.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, marijuana is the most
widely abused and readily available illicit drug in the United States, with
an estimated 11.5 million current users. At least one-third of the U.S.
population has used marijuana sometime in their lives.

Blunkett's new marijuana policy, known here as the "softly, softly"
approach, will definitely be enacted into law because Blair's Labor Party
has an unbeatable majority in the Parliament. But the chief opposition
party, the Conservatives, Wednesday opposed the change.

Oliver Letwin, the Conservatives' "shadow" home secretary, told Parliament
that the new policy is "muddled and dangerous." He said it was "impossible
to reconcile" how it can be legal to own and use marijuana, but illegal to
sell it.

In the Brixton experiment, on which Blunkett has based his new national
policy, sale of marijuana is also ignored by police, at least in small
categories. Some Brixton residents have complained that this has made the
neighborhood a magnet for "spliff" buyers from all over Britain.