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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Public endorses police soft line on cannabis
Alan Travis The Guardian
Tuesday 17 Jul 2001 Two out of three people agree that police should not make prosecution for possession of cannabis a priority, according to the results of the July Guardian/ICM opinion poll. The survey implies widespread public endorsement for the six-month experiment in Lambeth under which police are not charging people found with small amounts of cannabis in their possession. The ICM survey found that 65% of voters said that cannabis possession should be the lowest priority for the police when they were asked to compare its importance with street robbers, burglars, heroin users and car thieves. Fifty-seven per cent also thought that police operations targeting cannabis dealers should have a lower priority than using resources to tackle drink driving (11%), sex assaults (3%), racial violence (5%) and heroin dealers (4%). When asked to choose which should have the lowest priority some 21% said they did not know. The findings will be a significant boost to those who want to reform Britain's drugs laws and indicates that the recent debate does reflect a change in public attitudes. Only 18% now say that the personal use of cannabis should remain a criminal act with typical penalties of a caution or a fine. Some 27% now say that the personal use of cannabis should remain illegal but the police should not make prosecution a priority. This is significant because last year 97,000 people were prosecuted and mostly fined or cautioned for possession of cannabis. A small number were jailed. A further 37% - a growing proportion - say that the personal use of cannabis should be legalised now. Opposition is strongest among the over-65s where only 27% support legalisation. But among the 25 to 34-year-old age group support for lifting the ban completely rises to 45%. Interestingly among 18 to 24-year-olds, support is slightly weaker with 40% saying dope should be legalised. There is not much difference between the views of men, of whom 39% say legalise, and women, of whom 34% also support legalisation. Although it has been Conservative politicians such as Peter Lilley who have recently set the pace over the legalisation debate, it is a policy which is far more popular with Labour and Liberal Democrat voters than Conservative ones. Some 42% to 43% of Labour and Liberal Democrat voters back legalisation compared to 33% of Tory voters. The strength of the campaign to decriminalise cannabis possession is also reflected in people's attitudes towards the health risks involved in the drug. Some 48% agree that using cannabis is no worse than drinking or smoking. One in three voters (34%) disagree and believe it is more dangerous. These figures are slightly down from the last Guardian/ICM poll to ask the same question in October 2000 when 53% agreed it was no worse than alcohol or nicotine and 34% disagreed. The difference is made by a significant growth in the "don't knows", from 9% to 17%, indicating a growing confusion in the debate. The poll results are in line with the findings of repeated "sweeps" of the British Crime Survey in the 1990s which showed that 25% of everyone aged 16 to 29 had tried cannabis in the previous 12 months. That represents about 2.5m people. A total of 16% or 1.5m people admitted to BCS researchers that they had used cannabis in the last month. The ICM poll findings also echo research for the Police Foundation inquiry into the drug laws which found that cannabis is seen as a special case by the British public and should not be a priority for police prosecution. ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,001 adults across the country by telephone between 13-15 July 2001. The results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.
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