Pubdate: Thu, 11 Jul 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Section: International
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Warren Hoge

BRITAIN TO STOP ARRESTING MOST PRIVATE USERS OF MARIJUANA

LONDON - Britain, which has one of the highest rates of cannabis use in 
Europe, said today that it was relaxing its laws on marijuana smoking, 
keeping the practice theoretically illegal but making private use in 
discreet amounts no longer subject to arrest.

The decision, announced by Home Secretary David Blunkett in the House of 
Commons, stirred criticism from the Conservative opposition and some Labor 
politicians and prompted the country's former antidrug chief to resign as a 
government adviser because, he said, Britain is "moving further toward 
decriminalization than any other country in the world."

Mr. Blunkett tempered his announcement, which takes effect next July and 
puts cannabis on a par with antidepressants and steroids, by saying he 
would also raise the punishment for marijuana dealing and step up drug 
education and treatment for abusers.

An estimated five million people in Britain regularly use marijuana, and 
government data show that its use has risen sharply in the last 20 years.

A study published last year on drug habits in the European Union showed 
that 20 to 25 percent of adults in Britain used marijuana - about the same 
rate as shown for Denmark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain.

The government action followed recommendations of a parliamentary committee 
in May, which said a new attitude of tolerance would give drug policy 
greater credibility among young people and help the police direct resources 
toward heroin and cocaine. Britain has the most drug-related deaths of any 
country in the European Union, with heroin cited as the principal cause.

The parliamentary committee also suggested reclassifying the drug Ecstasy, 
but Mr. Blunkett said he had rejected that advice.

Several other European countries have already relaxed their drug laws. The 
Netherlands has legalized marijuana, while Luxembourg has ended jail 
sentences for marijuana possession. Spain and Italy do not jail people 
caught with drugs meant for personal use. Last year Portugal eliminated 
jail time for possession of small amounts of any illegal drug.

Under the British reform, possession of marijuana would no longer be 
considered an arrestable offense. Though that will not take effect for a 
year, from now on any police action will be limited to issuing a warning 
and seizing the drug.

Mr. Blunkett countered suggestions that Britain was going "soft on drugs" 
by saying the police would retain the right to arrest users in cases like 
smoking outside schools or in the presence of children. The Home Office 
emphasized that any marijuana cafes where the drug was sold and used openly 
remained illegal and would be closed.

"It is critical that police can maintain public order," Mr. Blunkett said. 
"Where cannabis possession is linked to aggravated behavior that threatens 
public order, the police will retain the power of arrest."

Scotland Yard said it welcomed the reclassification of the drug combined 
with maintaining a discretionary police power to intervene. The drug 
spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, Andy Hayman, said, 
"The retention of police power of arrest will enable the police to have 
greater flexibility in dealing with incidents on the street."

Mr. Blunkett insisted that today's move did not constitute legalizing 
marijuana. "All controlled drugs are harmful and will remain illegal," he 
said. "We must concentrate our efforts on the drugs that cause the most 
harm, while sending a credible message to young people."

But Keith Hellawell, Prime Minister Tony Blair's onetime antidrug chief, 
said the new policy "would virtually be decriminalization of cannabis, and 
this is, quite frankly, giving out the wrong message."

He coupled the announcement of his resignation from a government advisory 
post with a strong attack on the policy, saying it would damage communities 
and lead to more, not less, drug use.

"It's actually a technical adjustment which in the reality of the law 
doesn't make a great deal of difference," Mr. Hellawell said, "but it's 
being bandied about by people as a softening of the law."

He said that there had been an increase in marijuana smoking among young 
people and that more people were seeking treatment for its effects. "Why on 
earth, when there are these problems, we change our message and give a 
softer message, I don't know," he said.

Mr. Hellawell, the former chief constable of West Yorkshire, was named the 
government's first antidrug coordinator by Mr. Blair in 1997, but last year 
he was sidelined by Mr. Blunkett from the $160,000-a-year post and made a 
part-time adviser on the international drug trade.

The new police tolerance has been in effect on an experimental basis in two 
London neighborhoods, Lambeth and Brixton. The Conservative leader, Iain 
Duncan Smith, visited the Brixton project on Tuesday and told the Commons 
today that residents had told him it had led to rampant dealing on their 
streets. He said Mr. Blunkett's plan amounted to "handing over drugs policy 
to criminals on the street."

Oliver Letwin, the Conservatives' spokesman on law enforcement, complained 
that "the middle ground of calling it illegal, leaving it in the hands of 
dealers rather than in legitimate tobacconists or whatever, then turning a 
blind eye to it, is the worst of all worlds."

Kate Hoey, a Labor member of Parliament who represents one of the affected 
London areas, said the government could live to regret today's decision 
because of the increasing strength of marijuana being peddled on the street.

"It is a very strong type of cannabis, it's genetically modified, it is not 
perhaps like people tried 20 years ago," she said, "and we have no idea of 
the long-term effects of constant hard smoking that some kids are doing now."
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