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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Mixed message on UK drugs policy
ePolitix
Monday 20 May 2002 Politicians are set to send out a mixed message on drugs this week despite the government's attempt to toughen up the narcotics laws. As ministers announce a series of new measures to tackle Britain's escalating drugs problem, a cross-party committee is set to call for a softer approach to ecstasy. On Wednesday the home affairs committee will call for the reclassification of ecstasy, which is currently considered a Class A drug alongside heroin and cocaine. It will also recommend that cannabis is downgraded from Class B to Class C. The report will back David Blunkett's decision to reclassify cannabis but will argue he should go further. But the government has signalled that it will resist calls for any change on ecstasy and is preparing to toughen its approach. The committee is also likely to call for a change in the law to allow GPs to prescribe heroin to address the UK's drugs crisis. The MPs will also call for a network of safe injecting areas for addicts in a bid to bring their lives under control away from the criminal underworld associated with drug use. Tomorrow, the education secretary, Estelle Morris, will set out a new "zero tolerance" approach to drugs in schools. She will detail new plans to "root out" drug dealers operating in schools. The move follows a recent announcement that some schools will be given a full-time police officer to patrol the corridors. The government is also set to unveil plans to tackle "drug mules" travelling from Jamaica. The Home Office will announce tougher security at London's Heathrow airport and at Manchester airport. Under the new approach Jamaican detectives are to be posted at British airports from the summer. Ministers are also calling on the Jamaican government to take a more pro-active role on the ground. Recent estimates claim that at least one in 10 passengers on flights from Jamaica to London are carrying class A drugs. Earlier this year, two Air Jamaica planes were stopped and searched as they arrived in the UK and 27 of the 440 passengers were found to be carrying drugs. MPs believe that many of the drugs entering the UK from Jamaica are driving the drugs trade around the country. The Lib Dem MP David Laws told MPs earlier this month that many of the drugs coming into the London airports are rapidly spreading to areas such as Bristol, and onto smaller market towns such as Yeovil. Laws backed the police in calling for the government to take tougher action, and give the customs and immigration services more resources to tackle drug trafficking. "The customs and immigration services are clearly overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who are trying to bring drugs into the country illegally, often for extremely large rewards," he said.
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