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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Injecting common sense
Leader The Guardian
Tuesday 23 Oct 2001 Reducing harm is the right drug target Three important changes to make our anti-drugs laws more coherent and less contradictory were signalled yesterday. Belatedly, Labour has begun to recognise the damage which current laws on the misuse of drugs are wreaking. Where Jack Straw refused to tread, David Blunkett has boldly moved. Cannabis is to be downgraded from B to C class, making it a minor non-arrestable offence. He also signalled his support for wider use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Thirdly, and most boldly, he will promote wider use of prescribing for heroin addicts. The reclassification of cannabis is not just an issue for the chattering classes. It will affect tens of thousands of young people across all classes. He need have no fear of protests from either the public or police. Opinion polls show widespread public support: 60% believe cannabis should no longer be treated as a criminal offence and 99% place arrests for cannabis possession in the lowest police priority. Public criticism does not stop there. Parents are acutely aware that a war on drugs, while cannabis is still illegal, is a war on their children. Up to 50% try the drug. There were at least 2.5m users last year. Police chiefs have a different objection: the diversion of police time. Of 300,000 people stopped and searched in an average year, 90,000 are found to be in possession of cannabis. It takes one police officer at least three hours to process the paperwork for each of these arrests. Where Mr Blunkett falls short is in failing to downgrade LSD and Ecstasy from A to B class, as recommended last year by the Police Foundation's national commission, and rejecting its suggestion that possession of B and C drugs should be made non-imprisonable. The reason was pragmatic: prison does far more harm than good. The main conclusion of the commission was that the 30-year-old law on drugs misuse, which was passed to categorise drugs by harmfulness, no longer reflected scientific, medical or sociological findings. They liked the framework but sensibly wanted the classification to be based on the latest evidence, rather than outdated prejudices. The goal was a reduction in harm. The new move on heroin is in line with this aim. Heroin was once widely prescribed by GPs, which meant there was little business for drug dealers and ensured addicts received uncontaminated drugs. The home secretary is right to try and restore the old order. It was safer and more humane.
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