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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Q&A: Reclassifying cannabis
Simon Jeffery The Guardian
Thursday 22 Jan 2004 The government is to reclassify cannabis in an effort to cut the amount of time police spend dealing with petty crime. Simon Jeffery explains Is cannabis now legal? No. It is, however, to be made a class C drug, putting it on a level with controlled substances such as anabolic steroids and prescription antibiotics. The new classification comes into effect next week, subject to parliamentary approval. Hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine - in theory the most harmful - will remain class A, while class B will continue to include substances such as amphetamines and barbiturates. What will it mean in practice? Arrest for smoking cannabis will be discouraged and most people caught in possession of the drug will face no legal action - although there will be possibility of a custodial sentence of up to two years if the police choose to proceed through the courts and obtain a summons. The maximum penalty will be reduced from five years in jail to two. Is this decriminalisation? No, cannabis use will still be a criminal offence. The penalty for possession with intent to supply - dealing - is to be cut from 14 years in jail to five, but - unlike straightforward possession - police will still make arrests. Arrest is also likely for those who smoke the drug in "public view" or near playgrounds, schools, youth clubs and other places where children are likely to be. The Tories have attempted to portray the reclassification as a muddle that will send a message to young people that cannabis is legal and safe when it is not. Their leader, Michael Howard, said it is "misconceived" and promised to return cannabis to its class B status in the event that he was elected to government. Why the changes? Despite the arrest rate, cannabis possession is regarded by many senior police officers to be a trivial offence that nevertheless consumes an estimated 74,000 man-hours a year in London alone. The proposals are intended to free up police time to concentrate on more serious crimes and harder drugs. Has this been tried before? Since 2001, police in Lambeth, south London, have not arrested those in possession of cannabis but confiscated the drug and given a formal warning, a step down from a caution. The process lasts around 10 minutes - as opposed to four hours for an arrest - and allows officers to focus more of their time on serious crimes such as gun violence or crack cocaine use while still upholding the law. It did, however lead some people to think - or to say they thought - the drug had been legalised.
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