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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Ministers back cannabis caution experiment
Ananova
Monday 16 Jul 2001 A police experiment in cautioning rather than prosecuting people in Lambeth for possessing cannabis has the full support of the Government. Home Office Minister of State Lord Rooker said the Blair administration's priority is tackling Class A drugs, such as heroin and cocaine. Lord Rooker has recently told peers that the law gives the police discretion whether to prosecute or to "divert an offender from prosecution", for example by a formal warning or caution. He said resources are being directed towards Class A drugs given the devastating impact that these have on individuals, families and communities. "The six-month pilot in Lambeth is very much in keeping with this priority. The Government will be interested in the evaluation of the pilot and, in particular, the impact on drug misuse and crime." Tory whip Baroness Seccombe, a former Solihull JP, said: "My concern is that a police force, in a very high profile and public manner, has been selective in its implementation of the law." She pressed Lord Rooker whether this was due to manpower shortages in the Metropolitan Police. "Or is it now New Labour policy to allow chief constables to choose which parts of the law they enforce?" Lord Rooker replied: "There is enormous discretion with police constables and police about what they do when an incident or a perceived crime takes place. "But the discretion at the constable level has been removed in Lambeth by, effectively, the Chief Constable (Commissioner Sir John Stevens) for a period of time. "That is entirely consistent with the Association of Chief Police Officers advice that discretion is there. It is not the case that the police always act. They have discretion under the law."
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