CANNABIS REPORT TELLS OF CLASS C BENEFITS

DAVID Blunkett's plans to downgrade cannabis to the same category as
tranquillisers such as Valium could save police at least UKP 38 million a
year and vastly improve officers' relations with the public, an independent
report said today.

The study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation revealed huge variations across
the country in the way offenders are dealt with for possession of cannabis.

Describing the chaotic way police currently deal with the drug, the authors
said some officers "specialise" in arresting marijuana users, while others
have "effectively decriminalised cannabis in their everyday working practices'.

The report - entitled Times They Are A-Changing - concluded: "The chances
of being arrested depend on the force areas where an offence is discovered
and on the experience and attitudes of individual officers."

Co-author Professor Mike Hough said the Lambeth experiment - in which
Metropolitan Police officers have dealt with cannabis users by confiscating
the drug and giving an informal warning - should be extended across Britain.

Today's report also dismissed the argument that arresting someone for
cannabis offences often leads to officers discovering other serious crimes.

In the first relaxation of British drugs laws for 30 years Mr Blunkett
wants to move the drug from Class B to Class C, meaning possession will no
longer be an arrestable offence and ranking its harmfulness alongside
tranquillisers and anabolic steroids.

He is considering an as-yet unpublished report from the Advisory Council on
the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which he commissioned last year, on whether the
drug should be downgraded before making a final announcement on the move.

Last weekend Liberal Democrats became the first main party to back
legalisation of cannabis as members also voted to adopt the policy of
downgrading ecstasy and scrapping jail sentences for possession of all
drugs, including heroin and cocaine.

Ministers have insisted possession will remain a criminal offence in a bid
to counter suggestions that the policy is "soft on drugs'.

Chief executive of drug charity DrugScope Roger Howard said he hoped the
reclassification of cannabis would stop the inconsistencies in the police
treatment.