POLICE EXTEND SOFTLY-SOFTLY PILOT SCHEME ON CANNABIS POSSESSION

Scotland Yard has extended a controversial pilot scheme that relaxes
the force's attitude towards cannabis possession following an interim
study that indicates it has been a complete success, the Guardian can
reveal.

The six-month initiative in Lambeth, south London, was due to end on
December 31, but senior officers have decided to leave it in place
pending a comprehensive review by the Police Foundation.

Although the Met is cautious about pre-empting the foundation's
findings, which are due to be published in February, the force has
decided to persevere with the scheme - a sure sign that the
commissioner, Sir John Stevens, is keen for it to roll out across the
capital. He regards the system whereby people caught with cannabis
are given on-the-spot warnings rather than being cautioned, arrested
and possibly charged as "sensible and progressive".

The decision will also encourage the home secretary, David Blunkett,
to press ahead with his plan to reclassify cannabis from a class B to
a class C drug so that the police lose the power to arrest people for
simple possession.

The advisory council on the misuse of drugs is to report in the new
year on the health implications of relaxing the cannabis law and the
change could come into force across the country as early as March.

The Met believes it can counter criticism that it is "going soft" on
cannabis by pointing to statistics that show officers in Lambeth have
continued to stop people suspected of drugs possession.

The latest figures show that they issued 381 warnings to people
caught with cannabis between July 2 and November 30. Names and
addresses were taken and cannabis confiscated. The average amount
seized was 5g, with an approximate street value of =A315.

Last year officers arrested 278 people for cannabis possession in the
same period. Under the old approach, this would have involved two
officers spending up to five hours filling out forms at the police
station.

There is some mandatory paperwork to complete for a warning, but it
takes one officer less than two hours. The fact that magistrates
routinely fine cannabis users as little as =A310 was another important
incentive for change.

"Without the full evaluation, it would be wrong to read too much into
the figures, but they do show that officers in Lambeth are using the
scheme. The number of warnings is higher than the number of arrests
which shows that our officers are not ignoring cannabis possession,"
said a Met spokesman.

"There is a lot less paperwork involved when you issue a warning,
which gives our officers more flexibility. The amount of cannabis
being seized indicates domestic use, rather than dealing. Our
officers still have the power to arrest but they are only using this
when they suspect the person is lying about their details, or where
they find much larger amounts of the drug."

The Met supported the reclassification of cannabis from class B to
class C, and would support the reclassification of ecstasy from class
A to class B if the medical and scientific evidence supported such a
move.