UK: MP Calls For Laws To Loosen The Grip Of Drug Dealers

Source: Evening Post, Bristol

Date: 11 July 2002

More radical changes to the cannabis laws must be considered to take control of the drug out of the hands of pushers, says an MP.

Roger Berry, who represents Kingswood, said moves - announced yesterday - which mean cannabis smokers will no longer be arrested will fail to break the link with harder drugs.

He again called for a Royal Commission to examine all UK drug laws - including possible full legalisation of cannabis.

The Labour MP - who has admitted taking cannabis as an economics student at Bristol University in the 1960s - spoke out after Home Secretary David Blunkett announced that cannabis would be downgraded from Class B

to Class C, following a nine-month review.

The drug will still be confiscated and the user given a warning. And dealers will still be jailed for up to 14 years, the same maximum punishment as for Class B drugs. But offenders will only be arrested if there are "aggravating factors" such as blowing smoke into a police officer's face or carrying the drug near a school.

Dr Berry said there was no doubt that cannabis was less harmful than heroin or cocaine and denied it was a "gateway" to those harder drugs.

He said: "I entirely support the Home Secretary's decision.

It's imperative in a city like Bristol that police time is devoted to dealing with the criminals who supply hard drugs."