POLICE ENFORCE 'CHAOTIC' DRUG LAWS ON WHIM

The Government's drug advisers last night called on the Home Office to
modernise drugs laws ahead of a new report highlighting the haphazard way
they are applied.

The call comes amid increasing evidence that policing of Britain's drug
laws is in disarray - based more upon the whims of local police chiefs than
the statute book.

New research published in the spring by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the
UK's largest social research charity, will highlight the hit-or-miss
approach to drug enforcement taken by the police.

According to latest figures, 60 per cent of drug offenders in Warwickshire
escape with a caution, while only 18 per cent of those living in Durham
will get the same lenient treatment.

The variations up and down the country and even within forces are huge. In
some parts of London cannabis use is pursued vigorously, while in Lambeth,
south London, offenders are not even cautioned. Cannabis users caught on
Brixton's streets now receive no more than a formal warning, its liberal
police chief Commander Brian Paddick anxious not to waste police hours on
trivial drugs offences.

The picture has been muddied further by a series of submissions to the Home
Affairs Select Committee which have revealed a huge gulf in opinion between
police officers on the ground and their superiors. The Police Federation,
which represents rank and file officers, said "the siren calls for
decriminalisation and legalisation are not cries for reality, they are the
voice of surrender and despair". Meanwhile, Richard Brunstrom, chief
constable of North Wales Police, last month suggested the only way to win
the war on all drugs might be to legalise them, comparing Britain's policy
outlawing the sale and possession of illegal drugs to that of alcohol
prohibition in 1920s America.

The findings of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report will add further fuel
to the belief that policing of Britain's drug laws is in disarray. Last
night, DrugScope, the charity which advises the Government on drugs policy,
called on the Home Office to "modernise" existing laws and iron out
regional variations in policing.

Roger Howard, DrugScope's chief executive, said: "Drugs is an emotive and
complex issue, for which there are no simple solutions, so it is perhaps
not surprising that we see a wide range of opinion on drugs policy across
different policing constituencies. However, what is important is that drug
laws are applied consistently across the country and the current variations
that occur are unacceptable.

"We need the Government to continue its efforts to modernise the drug laws
and to give leadership to ensure that people get fair and equal treatment
wherever they happen to be. It must not be left to the police to decide how
drug laws should be interpreted."

The new findings are still being evaluated by a team at the Criminal Policy
Research Unit at South Bank University, whose director Professor Mike Hough
said preliminary findings show regional differences in the policing of
cannabis possession and dealing. "We have looked at cannabis possession
offences and how they are dealt with," said Prof Hough, "There quite
obviously are differences between police forces and the treatment meted out
to users."

Franklin Sinclair, senior partner at Tuckers, one of Britain's largest
criminal law firms, said: "Police forces need a policy that is consistent
throughout the whole country. For simple cannabis possession, all offenders
should get a caution and no more."

Eddie Ellison, a former head of the Metropolitan Police drugs squad, is in
favour of the legalisation and quality control of drugs - in order to take
the supply and profits away from criminals - and of providing treatment for
users.

Forces were entitled to operate their own policies within the framework of
the existing laws, he said. But he wondered whether a variety of approaches
might be in breach of the Human Rights Act which entitles everyone to be
treated equally under the law. Article 14 prohibits discrimination on
grounds of "national or social origin".

Mr Ellison said police had a history of leading social change ahead of
legal changes. "The police service has always responded to changes in
public opinion faster than legislation," he said.