GO EASY ON DRUGS USERS TO WIN WAR

THE possession of small amounts of cannabis should be legalised and being
caught with cocaine or heroin should not automatically mean jail, according
to a former head of Lothian's drugs squad.

Superintendent Jinty Kerr - the first woman to run a drugs squad in
Scotland - said allowing people to have cannabis for personal use would
allow the police to target drug dealers.

And simply throwing people into prison because they are using class A
drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, is not the way to solve the country's
drugs problems, she said.

Supt Kerr's comments come as the Home Secretary David Blunkett prepares to
downgrade cannabis to a class C drug, meaning possession would no longer be
an arrestable offence.

They also follow a public call by the force's Chief Constable, Paddy
Tomkins, for a more mature public debate about the policing of illegal drugs.

Scotland's anti-drug abuse agency, Scotland Against Drugs, and MSP Margo
MacDonald today supported Supt Kerr's right to express her views on the issue.

The officer told BBC Radio Scotland yesterday that police involved in the
fight against drugs are trying to tackle "a problem that has been around a
long time" and one that is "unlikely to go away".

Asked by interviewer Gary Robertson whether police were "beating their
heads against a brick wall" in trying to contain the country's drugs
problems, she said: "Basically you are, drugs have been around a long time
and I don't think you are ever going to get away from that.

"I think it's a case of adopting policies that are sensible." The
53-year-old made her personal views on drugs issues public as she prepares
to retire from the Lothian and Borders force after 34 years in June.

Supt Kerr, who also worked in Wester Hailes, one of the city's worst areas
for drug misuse, said she had learned a huge amount about illegal
substances and attempts to control their use during her time with the force
in Edinburgh.

And she said she had become clear in her own mind what she thought
politicians should be doing when it came to tackling the issue.

"They should be thinking about legalising the personal possession of cannabis.

"It's not the person taking the drugs, it's the dealers they want to catch,
but this is a personal view and is definitely not a police view," she said.

The matter of possession of cocaine and heroin was also not
straightforward, she added, pointing out that both drugs are legally
prescribed as painkillers.

But she added: "They are used illegally, and to great detriment to people
who take them, but we have got to find different ways of intervening with
the problem.

"Just saying lock people up won't do it because we don't have places in the
prisons."

Supt Kerr's comments received a cautious welcome from Alistair Ramsay, the
director of Scotland against Drugs.

"People need to be absolutely clear that their views are personal ones and
should feel free to express them. But they must be careful that their
comments do not lead to further confusion in a debate that is already
confused."

Mr Ramsay said the Scottish Executive had taken great care with their Know
The Score Campaign to ensure the right information reached the right people.

Ms MacDonald welcomed Supt Kerr's comments but added she regretted the
police officer was making her comments as she left the force. "I only hope
she finds a way of using her experience and obvious good sense and feeds it
into developing policies on coping with drugs," she said.

Ms MacDonald said people in influential professions such as lawyers,
doctors and police officers had often privately expressed the same point of
view, but many people are afraid to speak out because they are "unwilling
to square up to the fact that we have to learn to live with drugs".

She said there was still time to work out a "realistic and radical" policy
before the autumn when Home Secretary David Blunkett is expected to
announce changes in the law regarding cannabis.

Mr Blunkett unveiled plans last October to reclassify cannabis as a class C
drug, which would mean possession would not be an arrestable offence. It
would, however, remain illegal to own any amount of cannabis, likely to
result in personal users caught in possession being given a police caution.

Lothian and Borders Chief Constable Paddy Tomkins spoke out on the drugs
debate in January, just weeks after he took up the post with the force.

Mr Tomkins called for a more open debate about the use of cannabis and
other illegal drugs.