Pubdate: Fri, 17 Dec 2004
Source: Surrey Mirror (UK)
Copyright: Trinity Mirror Plc 2004
Contact:  http://icsurreyonline.icnetwork.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3290
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

SCHOOL DRUG DEALERS TARGETED

Details of new measures to crack down on dealers who sell drugs
outside schools are to be published.

Home Office ministers will publish a Drugs Bill which will also give
police power to test suspects for illegal substances before they are
even charged with a crime.

Being arrested near a school - or using children as couriers - will be
treated as an aggravating factor by judges when they sentence pushers.

The new measures will also allow courts to assume that anyone caught
with more drugs than they would need for their own personal use is a
dealer, thus facing tougher penalties.

Under the proposals, magistrates will be able to remand people
suspected of swallowing packages of drugs for up to 192 hours, so that
the packages have time to pass through their system.

Earlier this month a report said more schoolchildren in England have
experimented with cannabis than in any other country in Europe.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction also said
the UK had the joint highest number of cocaine users, alongside Spain.

Between 5% and 7% of people aged 15 to 24 in the UK and Spain admitted
to using cocaine recently, it said.

The study said 42% of boys and 38% of girls aged 15 in England had
tried cannabis, compared with less than 10% in Greece, Malta, Sweden
and Norway.

Former home secretary David Blunkett previously announced a major
three-month campaign to close crack houses and drug dens in towns and
cities across England and Wales from January, which will also target
firearms.
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MAP posted-by: Derek