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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: New drug laws could fuel 2 billion pound cannabis market
David Leppard Sunday Times
Sunday 07 Jul 2002 PLANS to make the use of cannabis a non-arrestable offence, which are expected to be announced this week, could lead to a doubling in the £1 billion-a-year market in the drug in Britain, according to a leading anti-drug campaigner. Peter Stoker, director of the National Drug Prevention Alliance, the leading independent anti-drug charity, said a change in the law would lead to a significant rise in drug abuse, especially among the young. "Based on the experiences of other places such as Holland, South Australia and Alaska, it is likely that the market is going to go up significantly," said Stoker. "Reclassifying cannabis could effectively double the market." Ian Oliver, a former chief constable of Grampian police who works as an independent consultant to the United Nations drugs control programme, said: "The use of cannabis will go through the roof." Senior customs and police officers fear drug trafficking gangs will exploit the new law, which will downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C drug. They point out that reclassification will have the knock- on effect of cutting the maximum sentence for cannabis traffickers by almost two-thirds from 14 to five years’ imprisonment. Bill Hughes, head of the National Crime Squad (NCS), which is responsible for targeting crime syndicates, is understood to have written to David Blunkett, the home secretary, expressing his concerns. In evidence to parliament, the NCS has warned that decriminalisation would be "an incentive to existing and potential traffickers to seek to grow the marketplace without fear of sanction". The Home Office has admitted that trafficking is an area of concern "which we are aware of". David Raynes, a former assistant chief investigations officer with Customs & Excise, said customs had already decided not to target cannabis traffickers. The new law stops short of full decriminalisation. Personal possession of small amounts of cannabis would remain technically illegal, but police would not have powers to arrest users who, in most cases, would face a fine. Blunkett is expected to counter criticism of his reform by taking a tough stance on dealing and on the use of other drugs. Ecstasy will remain a class A drug despite calls from the home affairs select committee for it to be downgraded. Blunkett will also rule out the creation of "shooting galleries" for heroin users to take their fixes on the National Health Service. The announcement of the change in the law is believed to have been brought forward a week amid a deepening row over the police experiment in Brixton, south London, where cannabis users have since last year been cautioned by police and not arrested if caught with small quantities of the drug. Critics say the experiment has increased drug dealing in the area and has led to children using the drug more openly. Kate Hoey, the Labour MP for nearby Vauxhall, said the Home Office was in a state of panic about reports that the experiment had failed.
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