BRITISH MOVE TO RECLASSIFY CANNABIS AS CLASS C DRUG

MOVES in Britain to strike a balance and a modicum of common sense in
policing the drugs world has sparked a wave of anti-drug protests and
fallen short of the demands of the pro-cannabis lobby.

In a nutshell, Britain has proposed to reclassify cannabis from a B- Class
to a C-Class drug. This does not legalise cannabis, but it removes the
option of arrest from police officers faced with someone possessing the
drug for personal use.

Any cannabis found on someone will still be confiscated and police will
still be able to warn, caution or issue a summons to anyone found in
possession of the illegal substance. The easing of attitude to personal
users of the drug will not be extended to traffickers or suppliers, who
will still face the full rigours of the law.

The Home Secretary David Blunkett said the move to reclassify the drug
would free up police and allow them to concentrate on tackling more
dangerous drugs like heroin and cocaine.

In 1999, British police recorded 120,000 drug arrests. Of these, 68% were
related to cannabis, each arrest taking an officer between two and three
hours to process, even though most arrests only resulted in fines.

This high volume of arrests associated with cannabis is despite the British
Government's repeated stated policy it wants the police force to
concentrate on stamping out harder and more dangerous drugs like heroine,
cocaine and crack cocaine.

Giving evidence last month to the Home Affairs Select Committee Mr Blunkett
stressed the need to warn young people all drugs, including cannabis, are
dangerous. But he said there was a clear need to focus more effectively on
hard drugs.

He is currently seeking advice from scientific and medical experts on the
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) on their assessment of the
arguments for re-classifying cannabis from Class B to Class C. He stressed
reclassification is quite different from decriminalisation or legalisation
and cannabis would remain a controlled drug and using it would still be a
criminal offence.

Mr Blunkett also confirmed, subject to the satisfactory outcome of phase
three of the clinical trials currently being carried out, he would approve
a change to the law to enable the prescription of cannabis-based medicine.
He said contrary to people's perceptions, drug use by young people is not
rising overall and the number of 16-19 year olds using drugs in Britain
last year actually fell.

However, he said the real area of concern is the increasing numbers of
young people using cocaine.

"We need to warn young people all drugs are dangerous, but Class A drugs
such as heroin and cocaine are the most harmful. We will only be successful
at delivering this message if our policy as a whole is balanced and credible.

"A quarter of a million lives are being destroyed by hard drugs and the
cost to the criminal justice system amounts to 1.2bn.

"In spite of our focus on hard drugs, the majority of police time is
currently spent on handling cannabis offences. It is time for an honest and
common sense approach focusing on drugs that cause most harm.

He confirmed the Government will be targeting dealers and their profits, to
hit the middle men who are the essential link between the drug traffickers
and the street dealers.

The report from the ACMD is due in December, and Mr Blunkett is expected to
announce his decision as early as February.