A CRACKING IDEA

Blunkett Should Brave The Drug Critics

Most progressive reforms face resistance. None faces it more than efforts to
reform our antiquated drug laws. The UK has the most draconian controls in
Europe, yet surveys show our young people are among Europe's most frequent
users. Undaunted by this contradiction, many conservatives continue to call
for even tighter controls on even the least harmful drugs. Two years ago the
Police Foundation's national commission on the law on misuse of drugs showed
the current classification, which is meant to be based on harmfulness, no
longer reflects modern medical or scientific findings. Nine months ago,
David Blunkett, signalled his readiness to downgrade cannabis from class B
to C, making possession of it a non-arrestable offence. Ever since, the
resisters have been hard at work.

The pilot scheme in the London borough of Lambeth, under which police have
been cautioning rather than arresting people caught with small amounts of
cannabis, has been an obvious target for this opposition. Destroy its
credibility, and the proposed changes to the law on cannabis will look
ill-advised.

All manner of distortions have been heaped on its head as Brian Paddick, the
Metropolitan police commander who introduced the trial, set out on our
comment pages yesterday. Opponents have suggested the scheme is unpopular,
yet a Police Foundation/Mori poll showed 83% of local residents supported
it; only tiny proportions were opposed - 7% of the white and Asian
communities and 10% of the black.

A second charge suggested dealers were being ignored; yet statistics show an
increase in arrests of dealers in both soft and hard drugs. A third charge
is that the scheme has encouraged "drug tourists"; but a study of home
addresses of those arrested shows no increase in the number of outsiders.

Mr Blunkett should go ahead with his reclassification move. Since he
signalled his intention, he has won the support of both the advisory council
on the misuse of drugs and the Commons home affairs select committee. What
he must resist is the push from chief constables to downgrade cannabis but
retain the police's right of arrest.

A major purpose of the change is to free police time from petty drug
offences so that they can concentrate on more serious ones. Last week's
report that crack cocaine dealers were spreading from London to other cities
makes the point. The police need to ignore pot and concentrate on crack.