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  Drugs Tsar Rejects Cannabis Decriminalisation
Posted by FoM on August 02, 2001 at 10:51:16 PT
Staff and Agencies 
Source: Guardian Unlimited 

cannabis The government drugs tsar, Keith Hellawell, today launched a veiled attack on politicians and public figures who call for the decriminalisation of cannabis. His comments came as he published his final report into drug use in the UK.

Overall drug use has "levelled off" despite increases in cocaine use and experimentation by young people, according to the report. The report said there had been good progress on the aims of the government's 10-year drugs strategy.

Mr Hellawell reported that seizures of hard drugs rose by 4% according to figures for 1999, the latest data available, and the number of people dealt with in Britain for supplying class A drugs had risen more than 17%.

"We still have a lot to do - but the report shows what can be achieved when we work together to tackle the drugs problem, especially the problem of class A drugs, the drugs which do most harm," he said.

But he admitted to worrying over a trend towards increased cocaine use and higher numbers of young people using drugs.

Mr Hellawell denied that the legalisation of soft and hard drugs - called for by the increasingly vocal opponents of the government's drugs policy - was the way forward. He also ruled out renewed calls to decriminalise cannabis.

"What we've got to do with that is not to throw our hands up and say 'we will legalise them all', but it is actually to get involved in long term educational programmes," he said.

Today's annual report will be the last from Mr Hellawell, who was demoted when David Blunkett took over as home secretary in June. Mr Hellawell was appointed as a US-style anti-drugs chief after the 1997 general election, but he has come in for harsh criticism from Whitehall.

One of Mr Blunkett's first actions as home secretary was to sideline Mr Hellawell by making his appointment part-time, with a focus on international aspects of drug policy rather than national strategy.

Last month Mr Blunkett issued the clearest signal yet that policy could eventually change on the legalisation of cannabis, calling for an "adult, intelligent" debate on the issue, echoing comments made earlier by Mr Hellawell. Mr Blunkett has already ordered police to concentrate on targeting heroin and crack cocaine dealers rather than cannabis users.

The director of the drug law reform campaign Transform, Danny Kushlick, said today that the government's 10-year drugs strategy had failed and that Labour's policy was in crisis.

He said: "For years now the government has announced that the national strategy is working and that it is just a question of time before we all see the results. Meanwhile though, the price of street drugs continues to fall, purity rises and drug-related crime spirals out of control."

There is currently an unprecedented debate on the future of UK drug laws, which was bolstered last week when the all-party House of Commons home affairs select committee announced it would hold an investigation into decriminalisation of hard and soft drugs this autumn.

And police in Brixton have become the first in the UK to formally "turn a blind eye" to possession of small amounts of cannabis, and now deal with the crime by an official warning rather than arrest.

Source: Guardian Unlimited, The (UK)
Published: Thursday, August 2, 2001
Copyright: 2001 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Contact: letters@guardian.co.uk
Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Related Articles:

Special Report: Drugs in Britain
http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/

Special Report: Drugs and Alcohol
http://society.guardian.co.uk/drugsandalcohol/

Drug Czar Attacks Cannabis Debate
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10502.shtml

Smoke Signal - Salon.com
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10500.shtml

CannabisNews Articles - UK
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Comment #1 posted by sm247 on August 02, 2001 at 15:07:06 PT
Oh ya!
Today's annual report will be the last from Mr Hellawell, who was demoted when David Blunkett took over as home secretary in June. Mr Hellawell was appointed as a US-style anti-drugs chief after the 1997 general election, but he has come in for harsh criticism from Whitehall.

Yes he sure needed "demoted" he is lucky to only be demoted if it was up to me he would be packing.

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