BRITAIN TRIES EASING ENFORCEMENT OF POT LAWS

LONDON -- (Associated Press) -- Smoking marijuana is illegal in Britain,
but a stretched police force in south London does not make arrests. Now one
community's blind eye toward pot use is the model for national drug laws.

Although the effectiveness of the experiment in Brixton has yet to be
determined, Home Secretary David Blunkett announced this week that he wants
to relax marijuana laws across Britain.

Fed up with the hours it takes to process paperwork for a crime
increasingly viewed as innocuous, police in Brixton do not actively pursue
marijuana users and will only confiscate the drug and issue a warning to
those found smoking or carrying it.

Instead, police are cracking down on harder drugs and violent street crime
in the inner-city neighborhood.

The six-month experiment began in July, and reaction from police chiefs,
politicians and the general public has been largely favorable.

Paul Andell, treasurer of the Brixton Community Police Consultative Group,
said the proposal was a reflection of reality.

``We are here in the 21st century. Cannabis is a relatively innocuous drug
and it was sensible to move in the way we have,'' Andell said. ``Here in
Brixton, it is still early days in the pilot scheme but the initial
indications are it is a success.''

After the government announcement, investors snapped up shares of GW
Pharmaceuticals, the only British firm licensed to grow marijuana for
medicinal purposes. The company is conducting trials of a marijuana- based
pain reliever and expects the medicine could reach the market by 2004, if
government laws change to allow prescription sales.

Under Blunkett's proposal, marijuana would be reclassified as a ``Class C
drug'' -- putting it in the same category as anabolic steroids. It would
still be illegal to possess or smoke, but police would not be able to
arrest a violator. Instead, they could only issue a warning or a court summons.

The proposal will be discussed among the nation's police forces for several
months and perhaps forwarded to Parliament for approval in spring.

Since the start of the experiment in Brixton, 218 people have been
officially warned for possession of cannabis, compared with 168 people
arrested during the same period last year.