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Hint of a softer line on cannabis

The Telegraph

Monday 25 Jun 2001

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By Andy McSmith, Chief Political Correspondent


DAVID BLUNKETT, the Home Secretary, hinted that the Government may
tolerate a softer line on cannabis offences as part of a drive to
concentrate on the abuse of hard drugs.

Mr Blunkett gave informal backing to an experiment in Lambeth, where the
local police commander, Brian Paddick, has proposed that people found in
possession of small quantities of cannabis should be let off with a
formal warning rather than being arrested and cautioned. He argued that
bringing a person to court can consume hours of police time, when the
average fine for cannabis possession was around £45.

The Home Secretary said yesterday that he was "interested in the
experiment". He told BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme: "I talked to
Brian Paddick on the first Tuesday after the election down in Lambeth. I
went to visit there and he told me what he was about to do. I said that
fits in entirely with the emphasis that I had already announced on
placing absolute priority on class A drugs."

His remarks follow comments by several of the contenders for the
Conservative Party leadership aimed at opening up the debate on drugs.
Michael Portillo said it was "very extraordinary" that politicians
appeared to want to evade an issue on which so many people had personal
experience.

He told BBC's Breakfast with Frost: "I don't know what the answer to
this is. But I do believe that if people in politics are to claim to
represent the people of the country, then they have got to be seen at
least to be willing to understand and to address issues that people out
there are talking about."

The Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman, Simon Hughes, welcomed
what he called "the Home Secretary's apparent pragmatic response" to the
Lambeth experiment.

A Home Office spokesman stressed that the Government has "no plans" to
legalise cannabis.

 

 

 

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