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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Plans to downgrade cannabis could save millions
Ananova
Wednesday 13 Mar 2002 A report into plans to downgrade cannabis to the same category as tranquillisers could save police at least £38 million a year. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation study also says David Blunkett's plans could vastly improve police officers' relations with the public. It also revealed huge variations across the country in the way offenders are dealt with for possession of cannabis. Describing the chaotic way police currently deal with the drug, the authors said some officers "specialise" in arresting marijuana users, while others have "effectively decriminalised cannabis in their everyday working practices". The report, entitled "Times They Are A-Changing" after Bob Dylan's 1964 protest movement anthem - concluded: "The chances of being arrested depend on the force areas where an offence is discovered and on the experience and attitudes of individual officers." Co-author Professor Mike Hough said the Lambeth experiment - in which Metropolitan Police officers have dealt with cannabis users by confiscating the drug and giving an informal warning - should be extended across Britain. He stated: "It would make sense to reclassify cannabis to Class C. There would be significant gains all round." The report also dismisses the argument that arresting someone for cannabis offences can often lead to officers discovering other more serious crimes. Analysis of 30,000 custody records found just 857 where cannabis had been the initial offence, and only 11 involved the serious crimes of burglary, robbery, drug dealing or firearms. In the first relaxation of British drugs laws for 30 years Mr Blunkett wants to move the drug from Class B to Class C, meaning possession will no longer be an arrestable offence and ranking its harmfulness alongside tranquillisers and anabolic steroids.
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