RELAXING CANNABIS LAWS 'ENCOURAGES ABUSE'

DAVID BLUNKETT'S plans to relax the laws on cannabis use have sent a bad
signal to young people and led to confusion among police officers, MPs
heard yesterday.

Fred Broughton, chairman of the Police Federation - which represents
120,000 rank and file officers - said a scheme in south London had resulted
in more people using cannabis and had failed to curb the growth in hard drugs.

His evidence to the home affairs select committee at Westminster was in
contrast to the views of police chiefs, who favour a more tolerant approach.

Last October, Mr Blunkett announced that cannabis would be re-categorised
from a Class B to a Class C drug, which meant that possession would no
longer be an arrestable offence when the change took effect this spring.

In the London borough of Lambeth, which includes Brixton, the police
already operate a similar regime whereby those using cannabis are given a
caution and the drug is confiscated but they are not arrested.

As a result, more than 400 drug users have escaped prosecution and 2,000
hours of police time have been "saved". Mr Broughton said the scheme was
still being assessed by the Metropolitan Police but the signs were not
encouraging.

"There is anecdotal evidence 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 active. I don't think that what's
currently practised in south London is reducing the number of people using
cannabis or other drugs. In fact, the reverse seems to be true.

"There are more people openly smoking cannabis. One officer told me that
whereas a year or so ago a member of the public would hide from you when
smoking cannabis, now they are openly smoking it."

One problem was that the publicity from the pilot scheme and the
reclassification proposal resulted in the police being confused over
implementing the law and young people thinking that smoking cannabis was
being condoned.

"The signal has been sent that cannabis is OK, and cannabis is certainly
not OK," said Mr Broughton. "We are trying to enforce the law and if the
law is unclear or confused then policing becomes much more difficult."

The select committee, which is conducting an inquiry into drug laws, also
heard from other witnesses strongly opposed to a relaxation of the cannabis
laws.

Lady Greenfield, a professor of pharmacology at Oxford University, said the
drug caused more damage than was appreciated and any change that would
encourage more people to take up cannabis would be harmful.

David Raynes, a spokesman for the National Drug Prevention Alliance, said
the Government was sending out mixed messages.

He maintained that evidence to the committee suggesting that relaxing the
laws on cannabis would uncouple the drug from harder substances such as
cocaine and heroin was "nonsense."

Mr Raynes proposed a points system under which first-time users of cannabis
would escape with a caution and criminal proceedings would follow only
after a third offence.