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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Drugs Tsar publishes last annual report
ITN Online Thursday 02 Aug 2001 Drug Tsar Keith Hellawell has launched his final annual report before he gives up his high-profile role. Mr Hellawell was appointed as a US-style anti-drugs co-ordinator after the 1997 general election but has been sidelined since David Blunkett took over as Home Secretary. The report said there had been good progress on the aims of the Government's 10-year drugs strategy. " "The report shows what can be achieved when we work together to tackle the drugs problem, especially the problem of Class A drugs, the drugs which do most harm," said Mr Hellawell. Seizures of hard drugs rose by four per cent according to figures for 1999, the latest data available. The number of people dealt with in Britain for supplying class A drugs jumped more than 17 per cent, he said. His final annual report is being published amidst an unprecedented debate on the future of UK drug laws. Legalisation of cannabis possible? Last month, Mr Blunkett issued the clearest signal yet that policy could eventually change on the legalisation of cannabis. He called for an "adult, intelligent" debate on the issue, echoing comments made earlier by Mr Hellawell. He has already ordered police to concentrate on targeting heroin and crack cocaine dealers rather than cannabis users. One of Mr Blunkett's first actions as Home Secretary was to sideline Mr Hellawell by making his appointment part-time. The Home Office said Mr Hellawell would focus on international aspects of drug policy, rather than a national strategy. The former Chief Constable of West Yorkshire was reputed to be one of the highest-paid special advisers in Whitehall, earning £106,000-a-year. However, he was criticised in Whitehall as ineffective. Unlike his US counterparts, Mr Hellawell, 59, had no budget of his own. He angered politicians when he suggested that the Cabinet should face random drug tests. He only managed to get his contract renewed for a further three years last August after a personal appeal to the Prime Minister. Legalisation debate hots up There is currently an unprecedented debate on the future of UK drug laws. Last week the all-party Commons Home Affairs Select Committee announced it would hold an investigation into decriminalisation of hard and soft drugs this autumn. Police in Brixton, south London, have become the first in the UK to formally "turn a blind eye" to possession of small amounts of cannabis, and now deal with the crime by an official warning rather than arrest. Last month Mo Mowlam, the former head of the Government's anti-drugs policy, called for cannabis to be legalised. Other high-profile public figures to have called for decriminalisation include former British Ambassador to Colombia Keith Morris and former Chief Inspector of Prisons Sir David Ramsbotham. Tory grandee Peter Lilley also said cannabis should be sold in licensed shops, in the same way as tobacco or alcohol. Director of drug law reform campaign Transform, Danny Kushlick, said: "The Government's flagship drug policy is in tatters. "The newly-demoted drug tsar publishes his final annual report amidst an unprecedented clamour for alternatives to totally failed policies. "For years now the Government has announced that the national strategy is working and that it is just a question of time before we all see the results. "Meanwhile though, the price of street drugs continues to fall, purity rises and drug-related crime spirals out of control," Mr Kushlick continued.
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