SOFT LINE ON CANNABIS IS EXTENDED

Police will start taking a softer line on the possession of cannabis from this autumn after David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, yesterday
announced plans to downgrade the drug to a less harmful substance.

Although the reclassification from Class B to Class C will not happen for a year, the Metropolitan Police said its officers
would adopt the policy from October. Other forces may follow suit, marking
the expansion of a controversial experiment in Brixton, south London, that
has bitterly divided opinion among residents.

Ministers denied that the relaxation amounted to "decriminalisation".
However, it means that possession of cannabis for personal use will no
longer automatically be an arrestable offence. In most cases police will
issue a caution and confiscate the drug, although they will retain the
powers of arrest and prosecution if public order is threatened.

Mr Blunkett said the police would be free to concentrate their efforts
against hard drugs such as crack cocaine and heroin. The message from the
Government, he added, remained unequivocal: "Drugs are dangerous."

But critics said the policy would send out confusing signals. The opposition
was led by Keith Hellawell, the former drugs "tsar" who was demoted last
year. Mr Hellawell, who was appointed in 1998 n a blaze of publicity, said he had resigned as a part-time adviser to
the Home Office in protest at the new policy.

Officials countered by saying that he had handed in his notice last month
and had asked that this should be kept confidential. They were also
"bemused" by his criticism, as ministers believed that he supported the
policy.

However, Mr Hellawell said the Government was going further than any country
in the world toward decriminalising cannabis. "There are strains of cannabis
which are extremely powerful, hallucinogenic and very dangerous," he said.

"The perception now, certainly in Britain, is that the Government does not
care about personal possession of cannabis, which gives a totally misleading
message to parents, children and the public as a whole."

Teachers' leaders also expressed concern. John Dunsford, the general
secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said: "For many years,
cannabis has been understood to be dangerous. The Government is now
re-categorising it, with limited explanation and without the support of its
drugs tsar."

Drugs law reformers were ambivalent. Roger Howard, chief executive of
DrugScope, said: "At last we are having an intelligent debate on drugs." But
he accused Mr Blunkett of ducking some issues, saying: "We are left with a
mixed bag of reforms, ranging from the impressively forward-looking to the
dangerously short-sighted."

Police chiefs welcomed the announcement, though rank and file officers were
less enthusiastic.

Andy Hayman, a spokesman on drugs for the Association of Chief Police
Officers, said: "This will ensure that cannabis is more accurately
classified when compared with other drugs. The retention of the power of
arrest will enable the police to have greater flexibility in dealing with
incidents on the street."

As well as reclassifying cannabis, Mr Blunkett announced an
increase in the maximum sentence for dealing in Class C drugs from five years to 14 years. This will give the courts the same powers
they have for cannabis.

There will also be a new anti-drugs advertising campaign aimed at
schoolchildren and greater emphasis on treatment of abusers. Mr Blunkett was
emphatic that cannabis was not being decriminalised and that public
consumption in the sorts of cafes that exist in Amsterdam would be
forbidden.

He also rejected calls from some MPs for ecstasy to be reduced from a Class
A to a Class B drug and was "cautious" about setting up centres where heroin addicts could inject themselves without fear of arrest.

But Oliver Letwin, the shadow home secretary, called the policy "muddled and
dangerous". He said: "He needs to explain why, if he is effectively
decriminalising cannabis use, he still wants young people to buy their
cannabis from criminals."

Tories also accused Mr Blunkett of "rubbishing" Mr Hellawell because of the
way he had upstaged the policy announcement.

"I have not rubbished him; he rubbished me," the Home Secretary said. "He
decided today that he would announce the resignation he had already made a
month ago." He claimed that Mr Hellawell had changed his mind on cannabis
three times.

The row dominated Prime Minister's Questions, with Iain Duncan Smith, the
Conservative leader, accusing the Government of failing to listen to the
views of the residents in Brixton.

While most Tory MPs were critical, Labour MPs broadly welcomed the move. But
Kate Hoey, Labour MP for Vauxhall, whose constituency includes Brixton,
said: "In 10 or 20 years' time we will look back on this day as the one
where we got it wrong."