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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Drug users should be fined on the spot, say police
Stewart Tendler and Richard Ford The Times
Saturday 02 Mar 2002 SCOTLAND YARD is proposing a middle way option of on-the-spot fines for cannabis possession amid growing unease within the police over the controversial 'softly-softly' approach pioneered in Brixton. A senior commander has been ordered to report on the feasibility of using fixed penalty notices in London as an alternative to adopting the Brixton scheme. The Metropolitan Police and David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, are studying the results of the experiment in Lambeth, South London, which includes Brixton. Drug users caught on the streets are let off with a reprimand after the cannabis has been seized. The aim of the scheme is to cut bureaucracy and free officers to get back on the streets to tackle dealers in hard drugs. However, police believe on-the-spot fines would meet the concerns of many officers who want a tougher line on people found with cannabis. One senior Yard source said yesterday: 'People still ought to account for breaking the law. Either it is a criminal offence or not. I cannot see it can be right for someone caught doing 33mph in a 30mph limit getting fined and yet you can go down the town centre smoking cannabis in front of children and just be told 'please don't do it'.' Any proposal from the Metropolitan Police for the current fixed penalty fine scheme to be extended to cannabis possession would need to convince Mr Blunkett that it would save police time. Under the scheme police would hand out a fixed penalty ticket which the offender would have to pay within 28 days or face prosecution. Mr Blunkett would need to change the drugs law to allow an on-the-spot fine for cannabis possession to be introduced in London or nationally. Early legislation is unlikely, particularly after this week when the Home Office was forced to drop key Bills because of lack of parliamentary time. The Home Secretary is currently awaiting reports on drugs policy before deciding whether to reclassify cannabis from a Class B to Class C drug. The fixed penalty idea would have the support of the team led by Viscountess Runciman of Doxford which in 2000 published the most comprehensive review of the 30-year-old drugs laws. Last night Kevin Morris, president of the Superintendents' Association, welcomed the idea and said: 'It seems to go part way between what they are doing in Lambeth and what the rest of us are doing.' Senior officers at the Yard are grappling with the future of the scheme launched by Commander Brian Paddick in Lambeth. It will continue but a limit on the number of times someone can be warned for cannabis possession before police take action will be set. However, a decision has been taken not to extend the scheme across the rest of London because officers are unsure about its effects. Junior officers fear it has encouraged greater drug use in Lambeth. Many commanders in other areas of the capital have already told Scotland Yard they are unwilling to adopt the scheme. According to the report prepared for Scotland Yard, the pilot scheme saved 1,340 police man-hours and 1,150 civilian staff man-hours. Officers also warned 450 drug users between July and December, a 35 per cent rise on arrests and cautions in the same period the previous year.
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