POLICE FEAR MUDDLE OVER CANNABIS LAWS

The country's most senior police officers are frantically drawing up
national guidelines for a "seize and warn" cannabis policy because of fears
that the home secretary's plans for reclassification - due to be unveiled
today - are likely to cause widespread confusion.

Chief officers are concerned that forces are being left in limbo over how
to deal with cannabis users, and that some will be tempted to introduce
their own initiatives.

Mr Blunkett intends to push through his commitment to downgrade cannabis
from class B to class C, a category that does not give police an automatic
power of arrest for simple possession.

But to offset criticism that the government is soft on drugs, Mr Blunkett
plans to give police the power of arrest when there are "aggravating
factors", such as someone blowing smoke into an officer's face or being
caught carrying the drug near a school.

This surprise move might require primary legislation that could delay
reclassification for several months.

In the meantime, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has been
asked to provide guidelines advising police when they can deal with
cannabis users by seizing the drug and giving a formal warning, rather than
by arresting them. Acpo is unlikely to report before October.

The Metropolitan police is known to be seriously considering a "seize and
warn" option for the whole of London.

"The concern is that there is no clear guidance over when 'seize and warn'
can be used," said one senior police source. "If officers are being told
they can use their discretion, then they need to have firm guidelines to
ensure that this is not abused.

"It is going to become an issue of leadership and supervision. Without
proper guidelines, then there could be differences in interpretation. What
is accepted in London might not be accepted in towns like Chelmsford."

The confusion over the reclassification of cannabis came as Iain Duncan
Smith launched his strongest attack on the government's drugs policy during
a tour of Brixton, the testing ground for the new initiative.

Mr Duncan Smith said: "It is quite wrong surely to hand over drug policy to
criminals on the street. We are saying to the home secretary stop and think
again because this is not the right way to go about it."

The Met is weighing up the fate of the controversial Lambeth cannabis
experiment. Since July last year, officers in the south London borough have
been cautioning rather than arresting people caught in possession of small
amounts of cannabis so they can concentrate on arresting class A drug
dealers and traffickers.

The Met commissioner, Sir John Stevens, is now preparing to reintroduce the
power of arrest pending the change in the law, but wants to take advantage
of the extra flexibility that reclassification was designed to bring by
giving offi cers the opportunity to "seize and warn".

There has also been surprise that the home secretary is considering
doubling the maximum sentence for cannabis dealing from five to 10 years in
prison.

Police fear that by attempting to soothe critics of reclassification, he
has come up with a fudge that will send mixed signals over the status of
cannabis.

Danny Kushlick, of the drugs campaign group Transform, said it was "a
classic case of mixing party political rhetoric with pragmatic reform.

"The government's own strategy makes it clear that the focus of enforcement
ought to be on heroin and crack dealing. The UK has adopted the worst of
both worlds, whereby use has not been completely decriminalised and
suppliers are being increasingly pushed outside the law."