|
Media/News > Press Releases
> Home Office has made a hash of drug law enforcement
11/09/03
Cannabis is due to be reclassified as a class C drug in January 2004.
The Association of Chief Police Officers have issued new guidelines on
enforcing the cannabis possession offences. (see notes for editors)
Transform director Danny Kushlick said:
"It is the continued prohibition of cannabis supply that has made
drawing up policing guidelines so complicated. We are now beginning to
see the formalisation of a totally anomalous policy that tolerates possession
but prohibits supply, leaving us in an unsustainable and confusing legal
no mans land.
"Cannabis should never have been prohibited in the first place, but
the sensible course now is firstly to follow the path of Holland and decriminalise
small scale supply, and then move towards full legalisation and regulation
of cannabis production and supply as is likely to happen in Switzerland
in the next year.
"The new Criminal Justice Act increases the penalties on class C
drug offences to near the level of class B offences, and make possession
of class C drugs and arrestable offence. This makes a nonsense of the
idea that reclassification is intended to make punitive distinctions between
drugs according to relative harm. The effect has also been to actually
increase penalties for drugs already in class C, meaning that this reform
is, in some respects, a step backward.
"What should have been a relatively simple reform has turned into
a fiasco, and distracted attention from the real drugs problem in this
country which is the illegal markets for heroin and cocaine. There is
an urgent need to examine ways to legally control and regulate these markets,
Until this happens the dangerous and lucrative trade will be left in the
hands of organised crime and street dealers, continuing to create crime
and mayhem across the country.
Notes to editors
"The
proposed reclassification of cannabis will mean that officers will still
have a power of arrest for simple possession. In the spirit of the Home
Secretary's decision to reclassify cannabis, the new guidance recommends
that there should be a presumption against arrest. In practice, this means
that in the majority of cases officers will issue a warning and confiscate
the drug. Police officers will be expected to use their discretion and
take the circumstances of each case into account before deciding whether
to arrest or not.
"The
guidance suggests that arrest will be considered in circumstances such
as the smoking of cannabis in public view, repeated possession of the
drug, public disorder as a result of cannabis possession or possessing
cannabis in the vicinity of premises frequented by young people, such
as schools and youth clubs. Young people (under 18s) who are found in
possession of cannabis will receive a formal warning at a police station.
"The
reclassification of cannabis will allow police to focus more time and
resources on Class A drugs. That said, despite reclassification, it remains
illegal to possess cannabis."
Read the
full press release: http://www.acpo.police.uk/news/2003/q3/cannabis_guidelines.html
|
