Pubdate: Thu, 11 Jul 2002
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: A15
Contact:  2002 The Washington Post Company
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: T.R. Reid, Washington Post Foreign Service

BRITAIN TAKES THE LID OFF POT

Marijuana To Remain Illegal, But Police Won't Arrest Users

LONDON -- Signing on to the tolerant approach toward drug use that is 
spreading rapidly in Europe, the British government today said it will 
effectively decriminalize the possession and use of marijuana.

David Blunkett, the home secretary, told Parliament that police will no 
longer arrest people smoking cannabis, as the drug is known here. 
Possession of the drug for personal use will also be ignored. Cannabis will 
still be considered an illegal drug, however, and those caught selling it 
will be arrested.

Blunkett and his boss, Prime Minister Tony Blair, defended the policy 
change today, arguing that it will give the police more time and resources 
to go after violent crime and hard drugs such as heroin.

"Making a clearer differentiation between drugs that kill and drugs that do 
not would be scientifically appropriate and educationally valuable," 
Blunkett said. He promised an increase in drug education programs.

"The message is clear -- drugs are dangerous," he said. "We will educate, 
persuade, and where necessary, direct young people away from their use."

The new national policy stems from a successful experiment begun last year 
in Brixton, a South London neighborhood. The local police chief declared 
that marijuana arrests were a "waste of time," and ordered his officers to 
bypass pot smokers and focus on users of hard drugs.

Today, young people routinely smoke marijuana on the sidewalk in front of 
Brixton's police station. You can buy a joint just outside Brixton's subway 
station for less than $5.

In an assessment this spring, the national Association of Chief Police 
Officers praised the Brixton experiment and urged that the same approach be 
taken nationwide. Blunkett said today he will institute the change next summer.

Blunkett emphasized that marijuana will remain technically illegal, and he 
said he will create a new crime of "aggravated possession" so that police 
can move against repeat offenders.

By telling police to look the other way when they come upon a marijuana 
smoker, Britain has joined most other European nations. The Netherlands, 
Germany, Switzerland and Belgium are among the nations that have 
decriminalized marijuana and "party drugs" such as ecstasy. However, the 
political coalition in the Netherlands that is set to take power this month 
announced plans today to tighten some of that country's drug laws.

The trend in Western Europe is to decriminalize all drugs, including heroin 
and cocaine, and treat drug use as a health problem rather than a crime. 
Portugal, Luxembourg, Spain and Italy have taken this approach in varying 
degrees.

"The general trend across Europe is an approach that focuses on the 
traffickers and does not pursue the drug user as a criminal," said Georges 
Estievenart, director of the European Union's Monitoring Center for Drugs 
and Drug Addiction. "The premise is that it is not in the interest of 
society to put these people in jail, where they don't get treatment but do 
get fairly easy access to all kinds of drugs."

Blunkett's new marijuana policy, known as the "softly, softly" approach, is 
certain to become law because Blair's Labor Party has an unbeatable 
majority in Parliament. But the chief opposition party, the Conservatives, 
objected to the change.

Oliver Letwin, the "shadow" home secretary, told Parliament that the new 
policy was "muddled and dangerous." He said it was "impossible to 
reconcile" how it could be legal to own and use marijuana, but illegal to 
sell it.

In the Brixton experiment, police also have ignored the sale of marijuana, 
at least in small amounts. Some Brixton residents, including Kate Hoey, the 
Labor Party member of Parliament who represents the area, have complained 
that this has made the neighborhood a magnet for marijuana buyers from all 
over Britain.

The police chiefs' association said this problem would diminish under a 
nationwide policy of tolerance because people would no longer have to 
travel to Brixton to buy marijuana without fear of being arrested.
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