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UK: Ainsworth announces 'Three spliffs and you're out'
ePolitix
Wednesday 04 Sep 2002 Cannabis smokers will face a "three strikes and you're out" rule, police chiefs have been told. Home Office anti-drugs coordination minister, Bob Ainsworth, spelled out the government's street strategy in the war on drugs to the Association of Chief Police Officers conference in Blackpool on Wednesday. Included will be new guidelines for cannabis policing that have already been branded "three spliffs and you're out". Under the new rules to be enforced from July next year cannabis users stopped in the street will be given a verbal or other formal warning on the first two occasions and will have their drugs confiscated. If caught a third time in a year they will face arrest, a charge for possession and a caution or court appearance. This would lead to a fine and a criminal record. "Under the new classification, cannabis possession will be policed in a way which is not resource intensive. In most cases a warning will be sufficient, together with confiscation of the drug. But where there are aggravating factors the police will retain the power of arrest," Ainsworth told the conference. The new guidelines will be part of the changes that saw cannabis reclassified from class B to class C though it was not be legalised or decriminalised. The decision followed the endorsement of the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs. The minister was keen to highlight that the government's focus was now on the dealers and class A drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine. "Drugs laws must reflect the relative harm of drugs if we are going to be credible in persuading young people of their dangers and if the police are to focus their resources effectively on class A drugs which do the most harm," he said. Ainsworth said the police have a central role in implementing the national drugs strategy. "Police have been the mainstays of the drugs strategy over many years. Locally they have played a key role in helping Drug Action Teams work across all aims of the strategy, bringing to the table a commitment to results and getting things done which is such a positive part of police culture," he said.
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