Pubdate: Sun, 02 Apr 2000
Source: Express, Express on Sunday (UK)
Copyright: 2000 The Express
Contact:  +44-171-922-7794
Website: http://www.express.co.uk/
Forum: http://bbs.lineone.net/community/forums.html
Author: Gerard Greaves In New York And Dennis Rice In London

MAKE CANNABIS LEGAL? IT'S FINE BY ME

Britain's top policeman has said he will not stand in the way of
de-criminalising cannabis.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens also said that even while
the drug remains outlawed he is not interested in pursuing users. The timing
of his remarks will be seen as further evidence that the establishment is
deeply split over the issue. It comes days after the Government rejected a
Police Foundation report calling for a relaxation in the penalties for using
"soft" drugs. Ministers now will have to accept that the national debate
raging over the legalisation of cannabis will not go away.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Express during a fact-finding mission
with his counterparts in New York, Sir John said cannabis was a "low
priority" for police. "We are, as police officers, all about enforcing the
law," he said. "That's what we're here to do. In London, with robberies and
murders up, cannabis cannot be a priority.

"If you go into the Tube and don't pay your fare, it is not a priority for
police. But if we catch someone doing it, that's different."

Speaking at the headquarters of the New York Police Department, he said: "If
cannabis was legalised we'd be fine with it because that's a policeman's
job. I'd work with it.

"Our job is to enforce the law. If the law says it's illegal then we enforce
the law. If they say its legal in Parliament, then so be it."

He added: "I'm not saying legalise it. If policemen start querying laws,
we're in trouble." He also said supplying the drug was a "different matter".

For all his attempts to distance himself from the politics of the debate,
all sides yesterday agreed that his words carried a significant impact.

The Conservatives said the police's problems with tackling serious crime was
no excuse for de-criminalising cannabis.

David Lidington, Tory home affairs spokesman, said: "I think what we are
talking about here is a man in a very difficult position because this
Government has stripped the police of the resources it needs to tackle the
most serious crimes of robbery and sexual offences."

On the question of cannabis, he said: "It is a gateway to other more
harmful, serious drugs. You only have to look at how Holland has become a
capital for the sale of hard drugs since it relaxed controls on the sale of
cannabis."

Anti-drugs campaigner Paul Betts pointed out that dealers in hard drugs
"rely on cannabis to get people hooked in the first place".

He said: "Every dealer and pro-cannabis organisation in the land must be
rubbing their cheque books with glee."
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