|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Police cannabis 'warning' experiment extended
Ananova
Saturday 29 Dec 2001 A police experiment in warning rather than prosecuting people for possessing cannabis has been extended by up to three months. The six-month pilot scheme in Lambeth, south London, was due to end on December 31 but Scotland Yard has decided to leave it in place pending two reports of its success. Under the experiment people found in possession of small quantities of cannabis are let off with a formal warning rather than being arrested and cautioned. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Two evaluations are being carried out, one by the Met Management Consultancy Group and the other by the Police Foundation. "No decision on whether to extend the warning scheme across the Met will be made until February or March, and the scheme in Lambeth will continue to be used until then." The decision will also encourage Home Secretary David Blunkett to press ahead with his plan to reclassify cannabis from a class B drug to a class C one. He is awaiting a report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs for scientific advice before going ahead - but the group first recommended reclassifying cannabis in 1979 and the move is little more than a rubber-stamping exercise. The Metropolitan Police statistics from Lambeth show that they issued 381 warnings to people caught with cannabis between July 2 and November 30, the Yard spokesman said. Last year officers arrested 278 people for cannabis possession in the same period. The Yard spokesman added: "Without the full evaluation, it would be wrong to read too much into the figures, but they do show that officers in Lambeth are using the scheme."
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!