Subj: UK: Lay Off Cannabis Users Says Drug Tsar



Source: The Observer, UK



Pubdate: February 6, 2000





Lay Off Cannabis Users Says Drug Tsar

by Martin Bright and Jay Rayner



The Government's drug tsar, Keith Hellawell, has called for a

liberalisation of the law on cannabis in a radical overhaul of the way the

criminal justice system deals with drug offenders.



In an exclusive interview with The Observer , he said the Government and

the police should concentrate on the fight against heroin and cocaine use

and stop being distracted by cannabis.



His comments, which were last night attacked as being 'defeatist', follow

calls from the Liberal Democrats for a Royal Commission on decriminalising

cannabis use. Mo Mowlam, the Cabinet Minister who has admitted smoking

cannabis in her youth, is thought to be sympathetic to a softening of the law.



Hellawell said: 'What I have done is lift the stone on the hidden truth

about drugs in Britain, which is that we need to discriminate between

different drugs and the relative harm caused and then talk openly about the

difference we can make. The focus is going to be on the drugs that cause

the major harm.'



He said the police were convicting too many people for the possession of

small amounts of cannabis to hit the drug crime targets.



'By far the greater proportion of arrests are for cannabis and I am looking

for a change on that. I am looking for a shift towards those dealing in

heroin and cocaine.'



Although he said new legislation would not be needed, his comments will be

seen as an attempt to reform the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act by the back door.

Under the Act, the possession of cannabis is a criminal offence punishable

by prison.



His comments angered Ann Widdecombe, the shadow Home Secretary. 'What we

need is a clampdown on the possession of cannabis,' she said. 'Hellawell is

completely wrong. We should be looking at a zero tolerance policy.'



He said: 'Successive Conservative governments said the solution to the drug

problem lay with the criminal justice system. Now funds are being shifted

into treatment and education.'



His comments chime with the findings of a Police Foundation report on the

1971 Act to be published next month. The committee is set to recommend

withdrawing prison sentences for possession of cannabis and taking ecstasy

off the list of Class A drugs.



Hellawell added: 'The report will be a another step towards facing up to

the reality of the situation. They are grappling with many of the issues we

are taking care of.'