News (Media Awareness Project) - UK: Cannabis Laws Eased In Drug Policy Shakeup |
| Title: | UK: Cannabis Laws Eased In Drug Policy Shakeup |
| Published On: | 2001-11-01 |
| Source: | Guardian Weekly, The (UK) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-25 05:39:45 |
CANNABIS LAWS EASED IN DRUG POLICY SHAKEUP
Britain's 30-year-old cannabis laws, the most stringent in Europe, are to be relaxed by next spring under plans announced last week by the Home Secretary, David Blunkett.
Cannabis - which is tried by more than 40% of British schoolchildren - is to be downgraded from a class B to a class C drug. The police will lose the power to arrest the 90,000 people a year who are currently charged with possession offences.
Alongside the reform of the 1971 cannabis laws, Mr Blunkett announced his emphasis on reducing the harm caused by hard drugs, including guidance encouraging doctors to prescribe heroin as part of a programme to get more hardcore addicts into treatment and away from dealers.
The Home Secretary also gave his firmest indication yet that he will license the medical use of cannabis to treat multiple sclerosis and other illnesses, once research trials are completed.
But the reform of the drug laws, designed to win back credibility with the young, stops short of the decriminalisation, or legalisation, of cannabis. Mr Blunkett's decision to reclassify it as a class C drug means that it remains illegal, but the maximum penalties of two years for possession, and five years for possession with intent to supply, will be much lower than the current penalties of five and 14 years, respectively.
The police will no longer have the power to arrest anyone in the street for cannabis possession and prosecutions will be carried out by court summons. This is likely to mean that prosecution will prove the exception, rather than the rule, for possession.
The reforms are expected to come into effect in the spring, after they have been considered by the advisory council on the misuse of drugs. This group of experts first recommended the change as long ago as 1981.
It is also in line with the recommendation of the Police Foundation inquiry into drugs, which was dismissed by ministers when it was published last year. But Mr Blunkett last week rejected the inquiry's recommendations to downgrade Ecstasy and LSD from their present class A status. The Home Secretary told MPs last week that the changes would not detract from the message that all drugs were harmful, but it would make a clearer distinction between cannabis and class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
Britain's 30-year-old cannabis laws, the most stringent in Europe, are to be relaxed by next spring under plans announced last week by the Home Secretary, David Blunkett.
Cannabis - which is tried by more than 40% of British schoolchildren - is to be downgraded from a class B to a class C drug. The police will lose the power to arrest the 90,000 people a year who are currently charged with possession offences.
Alongside the reform of the 1971 cannabis laws, Mr Blunkett announced his emphasis on reducing the harm caused by hard drugs, including guidance encouraging doctors to prescribe heroin as part of a programme to get more hardcore addicts into treatment and away from dealers.
The Home Secretary also gave his firmest indication yet that he will license the medical use of cannabis to treat multiple sclerosis and other illnesses, once research trials are completed.
But the reform of the drug laws, designed to win back credibility with the young, stops short of the decriminalisation, or legalisation, of cannabis. Mr Blunkett's decision to reclassify it as a class C drug means that it remains illegal, but the maximum penalties of two years for possession, and five years for possession with intent to supply, will be much lower than the current penalties of five and 14 years, respectively.
The police will no longer have the power to arrest anyone in the street for cannabis possession and prosecutions will be carried out by court summons. This is likely to mean that prosecution will prove the exception, rather than the rule, for possession.
The reforms are expected to come into effect in the spring, after they have been considered by the advisory council on the misuse of drugs. This group of experts first recommended the change as long ago as 1981.
It is also in line with the recommendation of the Police Foundation inquiry into drugs, which was dismissed by ministers when it was published last year. But Mr Blunkett last week rejected the inquiry's recommendations to downgrade Ecstasy and LSD from their present class A status. The Home Secretary told MPs last week that the changes would not detract from the message that all drugs were harmful, but it would make a clearer distinction between cannabis and class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
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