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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis changes 'will bring confusion'
ePolitix
Monday 02 Sep 2002 Retaining the power of arrest for simple cannabis possession will lead to confusion among officers when the drug is re-classified, an academic will warn this week. Tiggey May, who co-wrote a study on the policing of cannabis, is expected to tell a drugs conference on Thursday that the home secretary's decision to keep the power of arrest when certain aggravating factors apply was a mistake. May's study, conducted for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has come out against the move. "People who smoke in front of police officers are likely to be very naive, and the best thing to do when confronted by that kind of behaviour is to rise above it, or ignore it," she said. May believes the claim is "hardly a persuasive argument". "I don't think people want to be stopped and searched, so they are not likely to draw attention to themselves". Her research from eight UK police forces, including the Met, found 69 per cent of police have already adopted an informal approach to cannabis possession and only charge people if they have committed other more serious offences, such as theft or assault. She also found that 75 per cent of those arrested for cannabis were only charged with possession, rather than anything more serious. "Most officers we spoke to did not think that criminalising young people was a good use of their time," May said
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