DRUG BODY SAYS PUNISHMENT DOES NOT STOP DRUGS USE

LONDON (Reuters) - People should not face criminal charges for
possessing small amounts of any illegal drug, a leading UK drugs
research organization said on Tuesday.

``The evidence shows that criminal sanctions do not stop people using
drugs,'' DrugScope Chief Executive Roger Howard said in a statement.

He said taking people to court for possessing small amounts of any
drug was not a proportionate response. Referring to cannabis, a
spokesman for DrugScope said: ''Criminalization is more harmful than
the drug itself.''

A representative of the organization, which provides input to policy
development, was due to brief a British parliamentary committee to
make the point on decriminalization.

The comments come nearly a month after Home Secretary (interior
minister) David Blunkett reclassified cannabis so that possession of
small amounts is no longer deemed an arrestable offense. The ruling
put the drug in the same category as steroids and anti-depressants.

Mike Ashton, editor of the scientific journal Drug and Alcohol
Findings, argued in a report commissioned by DrugScope that cannabis
legislation has no effect on patterns of drug use.

Ashton examined six legal frameworks ranging from total prohibition
of cannabis to free availability, and evidence from changes in the
law in Australia, parts of the United States and the Netherlands.

He said the most harmful effects of the drug -- widespread use and
high levels of personal use -- were unaffected by changes in the law.

``It is clear that cannabis use has remained relatively unaffected by
different legislative frameworks,'' Ashton said.

The report said limited legal use of cannabis would remove it from
the black market, sever the link with organized crime, create revenue
through tax and prevent minors from using it.

But Ashton did not advocate free availability of cannabis.

``The changes we have seen so far are very, very short of
legalization, even in the Netherlands,'' Ashton said. ``It is likely
that the free availability option...would result in some increase in
cannabis experimentation.''

When addressing the parliamentary committee, DrugScope intended to
raise the question of reclassifying all drugs and extending the
prescription of drugs such as heroin.

A spokesman said: ``Blunkett has already made significant steps in
the right direction. We hope it will be the beginning and not the end
of reform.''