CANNABIS AMNESTY ABUSED, MPS TOLD

Drug users have taken advantage of a pilot scheme in London which relaxes
official attitudes towards cannabis by flooding into the area and openly
smoking in front of officers, a police leader claimed yesterday.

The initiative in Lambeth has also confused children and encouraged crack
cocaine dealers to become more active, said Fred Broughton, chairman of the
Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents 126,000 rank and
file staff.

His remarks to MPs drew a cool response from the Metropolitan police, which
believes the scheme has been a success. Danny Kushlick, director of the
drugs campaign Transform, said Mr Broughton was a "dinosaur" who was
talking nonsense.

In evidence to the Commons home affairs committee, which is reviewing drug
laws, Mr Broughton told MPs that he opposed plans by the home secretary,
David Blunkett, to downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C drug
because it sent a message that smoking marijuana was acceptable.

"Cannabis is certainly not OK. The evidence is pretty conclusive that it is
a major problem," Mr Broughton said.

He referred to the experiment in Lambeth, south London, where officers have
been told to caution rather than arrest anyone caught with small amounts of
cannabis.

"There's anecdotal evidence in south London that the change in procedures
is encouraging more people to come to that area and more people are
involving themselves in cannabis," he said

"There's also anecdotal evidence that more serious matters, crack abusers
and crack dealers, are becoming more visible and more active. I don't think
what's currently practised in south London is reducing the number of people
who are using cannabis or using other drugs. In fact, the reverse seems to
be true."

Officers who did liaison work in local schools reported confusion among
pupils and teachers, who thought cannabis had been decriminalised by the
scheme, he added.

The Met introduced the initiative in Lambeth to reduce the amount of time
officers spent on minor cannabis offences, so they could focus on tackling
class A drug users and dealers.

It is estimated that the scheme saved 2,000 hours between July and December
last year, although the force will wait for an independent report on the
project, due in March, before deciding whether to introduce the policy
across London.

"There is a problem with crack cocaine in Lambeth, specifically Brixton,
but this has been the case for some time," said a Met spokesman.

"There's nothing to suggest there's been an increase or decrease. We are
unable to gauge that. We believe there has been a positive effect on the
borough and there's a feeling that it has been a success. But we're unable
to comment further until the evidence has been gathered."

Mr Kushlick said Mr Broughton's anecdotal evidence was contradicted by the
analysis of well-informed professionals.

"These statements of reaction are an expression of the death throes of
prohibition and do not stand up to critical analysis. They will make fine
epitaphs for a policy that is amongst the most counter-productive in
contemporary history. Legalisation will prevail within 20 years and the
individuals opposing change are looking more Canute-like with each passing
year."