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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Public Endorses Soft Line On Cannabis Possession
ccguide Friday 20 Jul 2001 Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 Source: Guardian Weekly, The (UK) Copyright: Guardian Publications 2001 Contact: Address: 75 Farringdon Road London U.K EC1M 3HQ Fax: 44-171-242-0985 Website: http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/GWeekly/front/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/633 Author: Alan Travis PUBLIC ENDORSES SOFT LINE ON CANNABIS POSSESSION Two out of three people in Britain agree that police should not make prosecution for possession of cannabis a priority, according to the results of the July Guardian/ICM opinion poll. The survey implies widespread public endorsement for the six-month experiment in Lambeth under which police are not charging people found with small amounts of cannabis in their possession. The ICM survey found that 65% of voters said that cannabis possession should be the lowest priority for the police when they were asked to compare its importance with street robbers, burglars, heroin users and car thieves. Fifty-seven per cent also thought that police operations targeting cannabis dealers should have a lower priority than using resources to tackle drink driving (11%), sex assaults (3%), racial violence (5%) and heroin dealers (4%). When asked to choose which should have the lowest priority 21% said they did not know. The findings will be a significant boost to those who want to reform Britain's drugs laws and indicates that the recent debate does reflect a change in public attitudes. Only 18% now say that the personal use of cannabis should remain a criminal act with typical penalties of a caution or a fine. Some 27% now say that the personal use of cannabis should remain illegal but the police should not make prosecution a priority. This is significant because last year 97,000 people were prosecuted and mostly fined or cautioned for possession of cannabis. A small number were jailed. A further 37% say that the personal use of cannabis should be legalised now. Opposition is strongest among the over-65s, where only 27% support legalisation. - --- MAP posted-by: Kirk
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