England relaxes Cannabis Possession Laws

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 24 2001
Cannabis smokers will not be arrested
BY RICHARD FORD, HOME CORRESPONDENT
CANNABIS will be reclassified so that possession of the drug is no longer an arrestable offence, David Blunkett announced yesterday, in the first relaxation of British drug laws in 30 years.
In the surprise announcement the Home Secretary said that drug laws had to be credible, particularly to young people. He said that cannabis would be moved from a Class B drug to a Class C drug, putting it in the same category as anti-depressants and steroids.
Mr Blunkett denied that the move, which in practice will mean that cannabis smokers are unlikely to be prosecuted if caught with small amounts of the drug, was decriminalisation by another name.The maximum sentence for possession will, however, be cut from five to two years and the term for dealing in cannabis from 14 to five.
Police will no longer have the power to arrest a person found in possession of the drug. They will, however, still be able to carry out stop and searches for it.
Mr Blunkett also indicated that he expected to approve the medicinal use of cannabis and wanted more doctors to prescribe heroin as a way of bringing addicts into the healthcare system.
The reclassification decision is in line with the recommendation of an inquiry last year that was headed by Viscountess Runciman of Doxford. She said last night: “It is a very sensible and welcome move by the Home Secretary. It will make the law much more credible.”
Mr Blunkett’s decision is intended to free police time to allow them to concentrate on hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine, which are at heart of the Government’s anti- drugs strategy. He insisted: “I am not either legalising or decriminalising cannabis”.
He told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee: “Re-classification would be quite different from decriminalisation or legalisation. Cannabis would remain a controlled drug and using it a criminal offence”.
Mr Blunkett conceded that the operation of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act lagged far behind the public’s attitudes towards cannabis and that keeping it just one class below heroin and cocaine was not sustainable.
He will put his proposal to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which is expected to back the reclassification by next spring. In the 1980s the council voted by a majority in favour of reclassification but no action was taken.
Mr Blunkett’s move was welcomed by Labour MPs, the head of the Metropolitan Police and drugcharities. Sir John Stevens, Metropolitan Police Commissioner said: “While cannabis would remain an illegal drug the measures announced by the Home Secretary reflect the growing reality that law enforcers must target the scourge of hard drugs.”
Chief constables are concerned at the prospect of losing the power to arrest some one for possession. The Home Office is to hold discussions with the Association of Chief Police Officers on the issue.
Paul Flynn, a Labour MP who has campaigned for drugs reform, said: “This is a wonderful, sensible first step. We congratulate the Government for having the courage to do this. Very few people will now be prosecuted for cannabis possession as a result of this. It’s the equivalent of giving the police and the courts millions of pounds in extra resources.”
Roger Howard, of the charity DrugScope, said: “It is very encouraging to have someone in office who is willing to engage in open debate on this issue and then to act.”
Oliver Letwin, Shadow Home Secretary, said that his party would consider the issue in an ongoing policy review.

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Nick Paton Walsh
Sunday October 28, 2001
The Observer
Senior police officers have called for ecstasy to be treated as less dangerous than heroin or cocaine, just days after the Government ordered a relaxation of the cannabis laws.
In a move certain to trigger a heated debate, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) wants the clubgoers' favourite drug downgraded from class A to class B.
In the association's first public comments on ecstasy, Andy Hayman, chairman of its drugs committee, said the drug was not as dangerous as heroin or cocaine. 'We need to achieve a balance of police resources focusing a greater priority on class A drugs,' said Hayman, who is Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
'Acpo's submission to the Independent Inquiry into Drugs, based on the most up -to-date medical and scientific research, was that some drugs seem to be in too high a class, including ecstasy.'
Details of the Acpo submission to the inquiry - which led to the Runciman Report recommending the easing of drug laws - have remained confidential until now. Acpo's view could force Home Secretary David Blunkett to review the drug's status.
Ecstasy has claimed dozens of lives since it arrived in Britain in the late Eighties. Despite the deaths, experts accept it is not as dangerous as heroin which kills hundreds of people every year. Blunkett told the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee last week that a firm decision on the reclassification of drugs - including cannabis, LSD and ecstasy - would be reached within 'three months', once government scientists had reported back to him. He said his 'thoughts' were not to change the laws on ecstasy.
Hayman will give evidence to the select committee's inquiry into drugs next month. 'If I am asked about ecstasy [by the MPs] this is the line I will take,' he said. Acpo would insist on a further review of all the medical evidence as a safeguard before any change in the law. 'The reclassification of ecstasy may give the impression that it causes less harm, and its policing has a lower priority,' said Hayman. 'There are indications that this is not the case and Acpo remains committed to ensuring the fullest research and consultation is conducted.'
The new classification would cut the maximum jail sentence for possessing the drug from seven years to five. Supplying it would no longer merit a life sentence.
But Dr John Ramsey, a toxicologist at St George's Hospital Medical School in London warned that ecstasy had 'been linked to serious depression and birth defects. Changing its class would send a very unwise signal.'

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