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| Public Support Relaxing Law on Cannabis |
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Posted by FoM on March 17, 2002 at 10:43:01 PT By Sophie Goodchild, Robert Mendick & Colin Brown Source: Independent UK 
The Government will face mounting pressure this week to review the laws on cannabis with the publication of two new studies backing reclassification of the drug. The Police Foundation, a research charity whose patron is Prince Charles, and the Metropolitan Police are both expected to reveal overwhelming public support for relaxed policing of the drug. Their findings are based on the results of a six-month pilot scheme in Lambeth, south London, where police warned cannabis users instead of arresting them. Both surveys have been carried out by Mori. Results are a closely guarded secret but it is understood that as many as four in five people of 2,000 interviewed are "broadly" supportive of the initiative. A senior police source said: "The report is going to say a substantial majority of people in Lambeth support the use of the spare time to deal with more serious crime and more serious drugs. They have also done a national survey and that shows no significant difference. It is very positive." The Met Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, is scheduled to tell the Met Police Authority meeting on Thursday the findings of Scotland Yard's internal study into the Lambeth experiment. However, Sir John is not expected to roll the Lambeth programme out across London, but will instead wait for the Home Secretary to decide on downgrading cannabis to a class C drug. "There is an inevitability the Home Secretary is going to reclassify, so Sir John is taking the line, 'why bother making it difficult for ourselves'," said one police source. Last week, The Independent on Sunday revealed that the Government's chief drug experts, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, were also backing reclassification which would enable police officers to focus on class A drugs such as cocaine. The Lambeth project is understood to have saved officers more than 2,500 hours and increased arrests of class A drug dealers by 19 per cent. On Monday, the Portuguese drug minister will also present evidence to the British government showing that decriminalisation in Portugal has not increased drug use. Drugs remain illegal in Portugal but people caught in possession of all drugs for personal use are not arrested. The Independent on Sunday has also been told that the Speaker of the Commons, Michael Martin, has chosen a leading campaigner for the legalisation of drugs to represent him at a major UN conference on combating the international drugs menace. Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, says he will use the platform at the UN to call for the abolition of an international convention on the prohibition of hard and soft drugs. Mr Flynn will be representing the Speaker as a member of the all-party group on drugs misuse at the conference in Tokyo. He has warned Home Office ministers that the priority should be the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use. "The courts will no longer convict MS sufferers who use it for medicinal relief. I have said to ministers we are going to be overtaken if we don't change to medicinal use," Mr Flynn said. Mr Flynn is also behind a Commons motion backing the Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth for "his courageous statement on reducing harm" from Ecstasy by encouraging the use of "chill-out rooms" in clubs – a move attacked by anti-drugs campaigners. Source: Independent (UK) Related Articles: We Must Face That The Drugs War is Lost Cannabis Report Renews Pressure on Ministers A Statement of The Obvious About Cannabis Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #1 posted by FoM on March 17, 2002 at 11:56:13 PT |
| I think it's time for me to explain how I do my email. I can't answer most of the email I receive or that is all that I would get done and most times I don't have the answer to the question that is asked me. It's important for me to respond only to those who supply their home email address. I don't answer yahoo or other free email accounts. I have trouble with my email often and I thought it was time to mention this again. I also can not exchange links with sites that are for profit since Cannabis News is 100 percent non profit and must stay that way. I thank everyone who emails me and hope that it is understood why I can't respond in many instances. Thanks! [ Post Comment ] |
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