MR BLUNKETT IS FAILING US ON DRUGS

Evening Standard editorial comment

The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, is a man of good sense and a
shrewd politician. He must therefore be deeply regretting whichever
misguided instinct made him embark on a drugs policy which is
unravelling by the day and risks delivering what his former 'drugs
Czar', the former Chief Constable Keith Hellawell describes in an
interview with this paper as "the worst of both worlds". By announcing
the reclassification of cannabis from Class B to Class C, he has
effectively removed police powers to use a power of arrest against
those dealing openly on the streets. Possession of Class C drugs is
only an arrestable offence where intent to supply can be proven -
which in practice, is hardly ever, unless a vast volume of drugs is on
hand as evidence.

Parents and community leaders, worried about the widespread perception
that the Government is "going soft" on drugs, will not be reassured by
Mr Blunkett's eleventh hour attempt to undo the damage by threatening
sentences of 14 years for cannabis supply. As Mr Hellawell points out,
once the drug has been downgraded, it is hardly ever possible to
convict - let alone to secure a draconian prison sentence. By
announcing that there will be no repeat of the Lambeth pilot scheme,
the Home Secretary has responded belatedly to concerns that the
"softly softlyi experiment was resulting in more children being
exposed to the drug and an influx of dealers of both hard and soft
drugs into the area.

Commander Paddick's scheme is now said to have saved the equivalent
police time of two officers. That may be so. But it is a small saving
bought at immeasurable cost to the authority of the police in the
borough and has caused deep concerns that the socially deprived are
being exposed to harm in order to satisfy middle class desires for a
more liberal approach to cannabis.

The present situation is no advance on the "blind eye" turned by the
police to modest and discreet cannabis use - a happy fudge which would
have been better left undisturbed. That way, the police could set
their own priorities, without forfeiting their authority on the
street. Once lost, that authority is difficult to regain. We
understand that many people feel strongly that they should be free to
smoke cannabis. It is not harmless, but neither are many other adult
pleasures. It is, however, irresponsible to ignore the impact of
unleashing cannabis with even fewer controls than presently exist on
the most vulnerable people in society, and especially on children who
are not equipped to assess its risks on their health and development.
The Lambeth experiment gives us no grounds to support this
decriminalisation by default.