WE DON'T PROSECUTE ECSTASY USERS - POLICE CHIEF

One of Britain's most senior police officers reignited the debate over the
policing of drugs last night when he revealed that first-time offenders
caught with ecstasy are not being prosecuted, even though it is a Class A
drug punishable by up to seven years in prison. The disclosure by Andy
Hayman, the deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, comes
days after another senior police officer, Brian Paddick, was rebuked for
suggesting that pursuing cocaine and ecstasy users was not a priority.

Hayman, the chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers' drugs
committee, said that it was usually better to caution first-time offenders
rather than send them to court, which can cost thousands of pounds and
means courts have less time to deal with more serious offences.

'If you've got someone for personal use, one tablet, maybe two, with no
other previous convictions ... then rather than just push them through the
criminal justice process - which could have negative effects on that
individual - let's go about it in a different way,' he said.

Hayman, who argued last week that he would favour reclassifying ecstasy if
scientific evidence supported it, said that it was better to caution
offenders and educate them about the dangers of drugs. 'We know from the
experience of shoplifting and other offences that once they have had that
deterrent, sometimes that is enough and they don't go back to it,' he said.

Hayman denied that the police approach was a de facto reclassification of
the drug from Class A to Class B, something the Home Office has refused to
consider despite growing pressure for a review. 'We are not in any way
minimising the seriousness and the dangers around that drug,' he said.

His comments, however, were criticised by Valerie Riches of Family and
Youth Concern.'What sort of message is this sending out?' she said.
'Youngsters will say that the police cannot touch them. It seems at the
moment that if enough people break a particular law, then we just give up
on it and try to tackle something else.'

Police are also concerned that reforms of cautioning policy will lead to
different approaches in different force areas. A report from the Joseph
Rowntree Foundation, to be published in the new year, will say that people
involved in cannabis offences will be treated very differently depending on
which area they are in.