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UK: Half Of All Cannabis Possibly Grown At Home Jimmy Burns, Social Affairs Correspondent Financial Times
Monday 14 Apr 2003 Home cultivation of cannabis is now so widespread that it may now account for as much as half of all consumption in Britain, according to a report published today. The report, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the independent social research body, says that people who grow their own cannabis should escape with a police warning if they cultivate the drug only on a small scale. It says police forces already differ in how they deal with cannabis cultivators. Some offenders are cautioned, while others are charged under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Based on research by South Bank University's criminal policy unit and the national addiction centre at King's College, London, the report suggests the tendency towards "home-grown" cultivation has led to cannabis users becoming less dependent on the international drugs trade. Those involved do so as a hobby and as a way of avoiding contact with dealers. Under the act, production offences are defined as trafficking, and offenders can be liable to asset confiscation, and, on a third conviction, to a mandatory seven-year prison sentence, although some police forces charge offenders under a lesser offence of cultivation. David Blunkett, the home secretary, has announced a proposal to reclassify cannabis as a Class-C drug, treating its possession as a less serious offence than it has been until now. While the criminal justice bill, currently passing through parliament, includes provision to make possession of any Class-C drug an arrestable offence, several police forces are developing a policy whereby officers give only on-the-spot warnings while clamping down on dealers and sales to young people. The report argues that a more careful distinction in law between social and commercial cultivation of cannabis "could serve to drive a wedge between a significant proportion of users and the criminally sophisticated suppliers who might otherwise sell them cannabis and other drugs". It also favours the Canadian system, whereby individuals can obtain authorisation to possess cannabis for medical purposes and can obtain a licence to grow a specified amount. The report concludes that changing the law so that small-scale cultivation of cannabis is treated in the same way as possession would not contravene the UN drug conventions to which the UK is a signatory. Instead it would bring the UK closer into line with countries such as the Netherlands and Switzerland, where enforcement policy seeks to draw cannabis users away from criminal suppliers who may also sell harder drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
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