BRITAIN TAKES THE LID OFF POT

Marijuana To Remain Illegal, But Police Won't Arrest Users

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

David Blunkett, the home secretary, told Parliament that police will no
longer arrest people smoking cannabis, as the drug is known here.
Possession of the drug for personal use will also be ignored. Cannabis will
still be considered an illegal drug, however, and those caught selling it
will be arrested.

Blunkett and his boss, Prime Minister Tony Blair, defended the policy
change today, arguing that it will give the police more time and resources
to go after violent crime and 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 marijuana arrests were a "waste of time," and ordered his officers to
bypass pot smokers and focus on users of hard drugs.

Today, young people routinely smoke marijuana on the sidewalk in front of
Brixton's police station. You can buy a joint 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 today he will institute the change next summer.

Blunkett emphasized that marijuana will 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 police to look the other way when they come upon a marijuana
smoker, Britain has joined most other European nations. The Netherlands,
Germany, Switzerland and Belgium are among the nations that have
decriminalized marijuana and "party drugs" such as ecstasy. However, the
political coalition in the Netherlands that is set to take power this month
announced plans today to tighten some of that country's drug laws.

The trend in Western Europe is to decriminalize all drugs, including heroin
and cocaine, and treat 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 is an approach that focuses on the
traffickers and does not pursue the drug user as a criminal," said Georges
Estievenart, director of the European Union's Monitoring Center for Drugs
and Drug Addiction. "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."

Blunkett's new marijuana policy, known as the "softly, softly" approach, is
certain to become law because Blair's Labor Party has an unbeatable
majority in Parliament. But the chief opposition party, the Conservatives,
objected to the change.

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

In the Brixton experiment, police also have ignored the sale of marijuana,
at least in small amounts. Some Brixton residents, including Kate Hoey, the
Labor Party member of Parliament who represents the area, have complained
that this has made the neighborhood a magnet for marijuana buyers from all
over Britain.

The police chiefs' association said this problem would diminish under a
nationwide policy of tolerance because people would no longer have to
travel to Brixton to buy marijuana without fear of being arrested.