Pubdate: Thu, 15 Feb 2001
Source: Guardian Weekly, The (UK)
Section: Pg 14, Comment and Analysis
Copyright: Guardian Publications 2001
Contact:  75 Farringdon Road London U.K EC1M 3HQ
Fax: 44-171-242-0985
Website: http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/GWeekly/front/
Author: Editorial

UNPOPULIST ON POT

Who says Blair's is a populist government? Almost half of Britons believe 
that cannabis should not be illegal, and 99% think it should have the 
lowest policing priority. Yet pot continues to dominate the policing of 
drugs: more than 90% of all offences are for possession, of which 75% 
involve cannabis. However, ministers have again refused to reclassify the drug.

This government also claims to believe in evidence-based policymaking. A 
study by the Police Foundation's national commission on the misuse of drugs 
showed the classification of harmfulness by the 1971 act no longer 
reflected scientific, medical or sociological evidence. The commission 
included a leading pharmacologist, two chief constables and eminent drug 
advisers. They urged ministers to downgrade cannabis to C class, making it 
a non-arrestable offence.

It has taken the Commons select committee on home affairs to prompt a 
ministerial response to the report's 80 recommendations. Only two 
concessions have been made. The 50% of offenders who get cautions will no 
longer have to declare them to prospective employers; and new guidelines 
will urge a more lenient approach those caught supplying friends. Even the 
Daily Mail found this a totally inadequate response. There will be no 
sensible debate before the election, but afterwards will ministers please 
be bolder.
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