Pubdate: Thu, 30 Aug 2001
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright: 2001 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Contact:  http://www.csmonitor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/83
Author: Daniel Whitaker, Special to The Christian Science Monitor

EUROPE'S ANTIDRUG BASTION RECONSIDERS

As Britons Debate Easing Drug Policy, Some London Police Try Softer 
Enforcement In Minor Marijuana Cases.

LONDON - In years past, people caught smoking marijuana in the south London 
neighborhood of Brixton could expect to be arrested. But now, police are 
giving them a warning, confiscating the drug, and sending them on their way.

Britain, which has long had the strictest policies in West Europe on 
narcotics use, is showing signs of a possible relaxation inofficial 
attitudes toward marijuana.

While Britons remain divided on whether cannabis should be legalized, the 
six-month experiment with lenient enforcement in Brixton has some wondering 
whether Britain may eventually follow other Western European countries in 
relaxing attitudes toward so-called 'soft' drugs. The new policy experiment 
reflects a trend in British society toward acceptance of marijuana 
consumption - and an acknowledgement that the punitive approach taken over 
the past few decades may have been misguided.

Politicians are no longer shy about the topic. Home Secretary David 
Blunkett gave the clearest signal yet that the government might be prepared 
to soften its stance on drugs when he described the Brixton policy as 
"interesting," and last month called for an "adult, intelligent debate on 
the subject." At the same time, however, Mr. Blunkett stressed that the 
government must send a clear antidrugs message, especially to young people. 
And he said that there would be no swift decision on decriminalizing or 
legalizing marijuana.

Blunkett's comments followed calls by conservative Peter Lilley, former 
deputy Tory leader and a loyal Thatcherite minister, for marijuana to be 
sold (and taxed) in licensed outlets.

Lower down the political ranks, an overwhelming majority of the Labour MPs 
that currently dominate Parliament are prepared to vote to decriminalize 
cannabis, according to a BBC survey. David Winnick, a Labour member of the 
cross-party Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, which will be studying 
the topic, says he believes the drug will be decriminalized by the next 
general election.

The change in tenor does not extend to harder drugs, such as heroin and 
crack cocaine, widely seen as fueling violence, theft, and social 
marginalization.

British Customs officers have been told to switch efforts away from 
marijuana interdiction to seizing hard drugs, which flow in increasing 
quantities into the UK.

Commander Brian Paddick, in charge of policing in Lambeth, the borough 
where Brixton is located, says freeing resources to fight harder drugs like 
crack cocaine is part of the rationale for his officers' new tolerant line 
on marijuana. He stresses that the move does not legalize marijuana 
possession in the borough. The lenient enforcement applies only to small 
amounts of the drug for personal use. "The officer will seize the cannabis, 
which then must be signed for by the suspect. It will then be sealed and 
disposed of."

Some efforts to legalize marijuana are in the works, however. Jon Owen 
Jones, a Labour MP for Cardiff, says he will make the first British attempt 
to have marijuana fully legalized for recreational use when Parliament 
returns from its summer recess in October. However, this appears to be 
moving faster than the official consensus, and is likely to fail.

Debate still rages. Conservative newspapers like the largest selling 
broadsheet, Daily Telegraph, and the No. 2 tabloid, Daily Mail, are 
strongly against marijuana smoking. Britain's 'drug czar,' ex- policeman 
Keith Hellawell, also opposes treating marijuana more leniently than other 
drugs, maintaining that this would make little difference to criminals' 
currently lucrative situation. In a statement earlier this month, he said: 
"The only way you would take the whole thing out of the criminal justice 
system is to actually say we will legalize everything and make it available 
to everybody."

There are also academics to the left, such as Robin Bunton, of the 
University of Teesside, who see liberalization as a 'neo-liberal' move that 
would give market forces sway in an area where the state previously had 
responsibility for citizens' welfare.

More surprising is the extent to which acceptance and use of soft drugs has 
apparently spread through various agencies of the government. The chief 
inspector of prisons. Sir David Ramsbotham, has added his name to those of 
a number of senior policemen calling for consideration of decriminalization 
of marijuana.

A recent study shows that within the police force itself, there is growing 
drug consumption, especially by younger officers taking cannabis and 
ecstasy. The study's author, David Wilson, professor of criminal justice at 
the University of Central England, Birmingham, says: "When you consider how 
many 20-year-olds take drugs, it is not surprising that some of the people 
who join the police are also drug users."

In the Brixton experiment, which extends through early January, Britain is 
following a pan-European trend.

The trail toward greater tolerance was blazed by the Dutch, where, since 
1976, officially tolerated cafes have served marijuana as well as coffee. 
Experience in the Netherlands seems to refute the idea of marijuana working 
as an automatic 'gateway' to harder drugs - Dutch rates of heroin addiction 
are lower than those in the UK, whose anti- marijuana laws have until now 
been the stiffest in Western Europe. Survey figures also indicate that only 
14 percent of Dutch 15-16 year- olds smoke marijuana, compared to 16 
percent of their British counterparts.

The past two years have seen Belgium, Switzerland and Germany all follow 
the Dutch lead by decriminalizing marijuana sale and consumption to varying 
extents. French health minister Kouchner added to the movement this month 
by himself admitting to smoking the drug and stating that he thinks it 
should be legal in France.

In July, Portugal decriminalized use of all drugs as part of a new 
public-health strategy. The focus is on treatment and rehabilitation of 
users, rather than on criminal punishment. Only Swedish and Greek 
authorities remain at least nominally fixed on the goal of a drug-free society.

One reason for Britain's changing official attitude toward cannabis may be 
a realization that the drug has become popular across a spectrum of 
society. Back in Brixton in the mid-1980s, smoking by the neighborhood's 
large Caribbean minority stoked conflict with a largely white police force, 
which contributed to urban riots. Last month the 'Big Chill' music 
festival, 200 miles west of London in Wiltshire, occurred under a haze of 
marijuana smoke. Most of the thousands who paid ?100 ($145) to attend were 
white professionals.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart