CANNABIS HAS BLUNKETT IN CLASS OF HIS OWN

DAVID Blunkett had to work hard yesterday to convince doubters on both
sides of the Commons that the reclassification of cannabis was a bold step
and not a dangerous experiment. The Home Secretary cajoled and harangued in
equal measure as MPs questioned his wisdom and asked if, in ten years, he
would not look back and admit: "I got it wrong".

Or, as Irene Adams, the MP for Paisley North, who received death threats
after standing up to drug dealers in the town, put it: "It is almost like
telling a child he can't have a sweet, but he can take one from a drawer
while your back is turned."

Mr Blunkett claimed his was a "winning strategy" that did not decriminalise
cannabis, but gave the police greater scope to detect and prosecute dealers
in crack, heroin and cocaine.

He said: "Let me be clear, cannabis possession remains a criminal offence.
I am determined that the police are able to control the streets and uphold
order. They will be able to arrest for possession where public order is
threatened, or where children are at risk."

But smoking a casual joint, as many have done for a year on the streets of
Brixton, the London borough used in the government's controversial
"tolerance" experiment, will become, in essence, legal.

Mr Blunkett's difficult case was hardly helped by the public implosion of
the government's former "drugs tsar", Keith Hellawell, who yesterday quit
inprotest over drugs policy and what little power he had left.

Taking the Home Office and the BBC Radio 4's Today programme by surprise,
Mr Hellawell resigned over the airwaves at the decision to relax the laws
on cannabis.

He said the move to reclassify cannabis from Class B to Class C sent out
totally the wrong message by suggesting personal use of the drug was
acceptable.

Mr Hellawell, the former chief constable of West Yorkshire Police, also
accused the government of spin and repackaging its drugs policy. He said:
"It's a softening in the law, and that's giving the wrong message. It's a
personal initiative of David Blunkett's. I don't know where he got his
advice. He certainly didn't get it from me."

Mr Hellawell insisted he was not a "drug tsar", but the UK anti-drugs
co-ordinator. From the moment he took up his UKP106,057-a-year post in
January 1998, the former policeman appeared to see his role differently
from the New Labour politicians who supervised him. In the end, his
resignation was not just over the switch in policy to liberalise cannabis.
He said: "I have resigned over this issue and over the issue of spin."

His hardline approach was far from universally popular. His own deputy,
Mike Trace, said in an interview last year: "Keith had decided that
sticking to a line of 'saving the UK from the scourge of drugs' was more
popular with ministers."

Despite repeated criticism from Mr Hellawell in a round of interviews, Mr
Blunkett dismissed the attack and reminded the Commons he been demoted as
drug tsar nine months ago and changed his mind on the issue of cannabis
three times.

He also told MPs he himself had changed his mind on cannabis - and that two
years ago, he opposed moves to reclassify cannabis to Class C.

He insisted that his mind had been changed by the police. Mr Blunkett said:
"I have chosen to back the police in their request that where people are
dealing in drugs, where they are causing disorder, or where they are
threatening the lives of young people, they will be arrested and they will
get not ten years, but 14 years [in prison]."

The Home Secretary's statement wrong-footed his critics because he
unexpectedly increased the tariff for dealing in Class B and Class C drugs.

However, he faced criticism from Scotland for failing to take enough
consideration of the differences between English and Scots law when drawing
up his new proposals.

The Scottish Police Federation said downgrading cannabis to Class C would
make little practical difference - because most finds of small amounts of
cannabis came about coincidentally, as a result of police inquiring about
other matters.

While police in England and Wales will be able to issue cautions, officers
in Scotland will have to continue reporting cases to the procurator-fiscal.

Government aides insisted the stance on drugs remained firm and the new
policy would see more arrests for crimes involving Class A drugs.

Mr Blunkett appealed for a "mature and intelligent debate". He added: "It
is important to remember that cannabis is a harmful substance. I therefore
have no intention of either decriminalising or legalising the production,
supply or possession of cannabis."

THE PARENT, LEAST OF ALL EVILS

COLIN Shanks, a parent who has seen both his son and daughter become heroin
addicts, said he believed the liberalisation of cannabis laws was the right
policy.

Mr Shanks, of Cranhill, Glasgow, said: "If you look at the number of people
who are in prison for violence caused by alcohol then it seems ridiculous
to take such a hard line on cannabis.

"I don't know if cannabis is a gateway drug to heroin. I know my son was
smoking hash before he started heroin but there are lots of people who
smoke hash who have never touched heroin.

"This liberalisation will not change anything. I suppose the changing of
cannabis to a class C drug is the least of all evils. Cannabis is here to
stay but there are bigger problems, especially with alcohol."

THE ADVISER, PRACTICAL RESPONSE

DAVE Liddell, the director of the Scottish Drugs Forum, said
reclassification of cannabis was a practical response to the risks posed.

Mr Liddell said: "It is crucial that we respond to drugs issues on the
basis of pragmatism and evidence of what can make a difference.

"We need to make a clear distinction between cannabis and the drugs which
cause the greatest harm to individuals and communities in Scotland,
particularly heroin."

Mr Liddell said the approach that views all drugs as equally harmful
results in a greater likelihood of transition from cannabis to other drugs.

" It is vital that young people understand the harms and risks of opiates.
Cannabis is not a harmless drug, but the legal penalties which have been in
place since 1971 have not curtailed levels of use.

THE POLICE, STILL AGAINST LAW

NORRIE Flowers, the chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, said the
reclassification of the drug would make less difference to policing in
Scotland than it would in England and Wales.

"Cannabis has not been decriminalised and it remains a controlled drug.

"In terms of police officers working in Scotland, this will not make much
of a practical difference. We do not have the system of caution that
applies in England and Wales.

"Our officers cannot give someone a caution, they have to report them to
the procurator-fiscal and it would be up to the fiscal if that person would
be given a warning letter or a caution."

Mr Flowers said: "Sentences have been reduced in terms of possession but
increased for the dealers."

THE BUSINESSMAN, RIGHT DIRECTION

KEVIN Williamson, who hopes to establish Scotland's first cannabis cafe in
Edinburgh, welcomed the reclassification of the drug.

"I am pleased this has gone through ," he said. "I see this as a green
light to do what we want to do and open a coffee shop.

"It means that overall drugs strategy is moving in the right direction
after three decades of failure. Anything that will save the needless arrest
of 80,000 people each year must be welcomed. But although it is a move in
the right direction, I am concerned about the change in the law to increase
sentences for dealing to 14 years in prison.

"It is muddled thinking that appears to be pandering to the tabloids but we
are going to open the shop."