UK: Major rise in cannabis possession

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BBC Online

Monday 22 Nov 2004

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The number of people found carrying cannabis has risen by 29% in London
since laws were relaxed in January, a report has said.

Met Police figures show 6,321 were found in possession of the drug from
April to August 2003. That rose to 8,148 in the same period this year.

London Assembly Conservatives said the class C drug should be returned to
class B status, to reduce its use.

But the Met said the number of actual arrests fell by 53% since downgrading.

The force says this has saved almost UKP425,000.

But the report adds the reclassification had sent out a mixed message to
members of the public.

Also, front line officers found people with cannabis on them more
confrontational because they believed they would not face arrest.

Bob Neill, leader of the London Assembly Conservative group and member of
the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), said: "The reclassification would
seem to have made it harder, rather than easier, to enforce the law.

"If cannabis were reclassified back to a class B drug, everybody would know
where they stand, cannabis use would fall and police could return to
arresting those who use illegal drugs."

Fellow MPA member Richard Barnes told BBC News: "Research has shown that
cannabis is not the harmless little narcotic that we are led to believe it is."

The London boroughs of Lambeth, Hackney, Westminster, Merton and Barnet
recorded the highest numbers of people caught carrying cannabis.

While Harrow, Hammersmith and Fulham and Barking and Dagenham had the
lowest rates.

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