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UK: No change on cannabis, says Drugs Tsar

James Lyons

The Western Mail

Thursday 11 Jan 2001

MINISTERS will reject calls to decriminalise cannabis when they respond to a groundbreaking report on drug policy, government drugs tsar Keith Hellawell said yesterday.
Dame Ruth Runciman called for a cut in penalties for cannabis, Ecstasy and LSD in the report of a Police Foundation inquiry she chaired last year.

Ministers have yet to reply to her report and yesterday she repeated that the Government could not afford to ignore the debate over drugs.

However Mr Hellawell, who has been asked to examine the report, insisted the law would not change.

Dame Ruth said, “Our drug laws need some review after 30 years to make them more accurate, more enforceable and fairer.

“I don’t see how in the end they can avoid joining in what should be a common-sense, undogmatic and constructive debate.”

Penalties had to be proportionate, said Dame Ruth. Persistent offenders should end up with a criminal record but those caught with cannabis for personal use for the first time should receive a caution.

Both Ecstasy and LSD, which were less harmful than cocaine or heroin, should be downgraded from class A to class B drugs, she added.

Mr Hellawell said ministers had rejected these findings last year and their stance had not changed.

On Tuesday Prime Minister Tony Blair repeated his view that he should examine the issue as a parent as well as Premier and did not think laws should change.

Mr Hellawell said, “Certainly in relation to its principle recommendations of reclassifying the law in relation to cannabis and Ecstasy the Government is very firm and clear on that, and made its views known as soon as the report was published.”

Attention was being focused on the drugs that caused most harm, he said.

“The public’s views have been reflected in policy, firstly by the way police deal with people in possession of cannabis. You are much more likely to be cautioned for being in possession of cannabis for personal use by the police than you are for harder drugs. The idea that we never have a debate about this, the idea that the Government just says no, the idea that government policy is not up with public thought is, quite frankly, total nonsense.”

 

 

 

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