cannabisnews.com: Cannabis Arrests Fall By a Third Cannabis Arrests Fall By a Third Posted by CN Staff on January 28, 2005 at 10:35:11 PT Press Association Source: Guardian Unlimited UK Arrests for cannabis possession have fallen by a third in the first year since the drug was downgraded, official figures for England and Wales showed today. The Home Office said the move to re-classify the drug from Class B to Class C had saved police an estimated 199,000 hours of work. Cannabis is now ranked alongside anabolic steroids and some prescription anti-depressants, and its possession is generally not an arrestable offence. But ministers insisted cannabis use by young people had remained stable and was "significantly down" since April 1998. The Home Office's British crime survey suggested 28.2% of 16 to 24-year-olds used cannabis then, compared with 24.8% today. Former home secretary David Blunkett decided to re-classify cannabis so that officers could spend more time combating hard drugs such as heroin and crack. It was reclassified on January 29 last year but remains illegal. The figure of 199,000 saved hours was estimated from provisional data supplied by 26 of the 42 police forces in England and Wales, said a Home Office spokesman. The Home Office minister Caroline Flint said: "The government's drugs strategy focuses on tackling the Class A drugs which cause the most harm to communities, individuals and their families. "A year ago we reclassified cannabis on the recommendation of the advisory council on the misuse of drugs, so that the police could concentrate on the far more destructive Class A drugs. "One year on the picture is encouraging with significant savings in police time which can now be used to drive more serious drugs off our streets and make our communities safer." She added: "I am also pleased that figures show that some predictions that cannabis use by young people would increase were wholly unfounded. "Following a major government information campaign to get across that cannabis is harmful and remains illegal, the figures show that young people's cannabis use has remained stable since reclassification and is still significantly down from 1998 levels." Source: Guardian Unlimited, The (UK)Published: Friday, January 28, 2005 Copyright: 2005 Guardian Newspapers LimitedContact: letters guardian.co.ukWebsite: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Related Articles & Web Site:Advisory Council On The Misuse of Drugshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/reschedule.pdf Big Shake-Up of Britains Drug Laws in 30 Yearshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18261.shtmlThe Case for Small Home Growers http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18249.shtmlVoters Want Even Softer Line on Cannabis http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18220.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by Taylor121 on January 30, 2005 at 15:00:04 PT Good news siege Woot It's on for 06. Let's pray Nevada makes the right choice. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by siege on January 28, 2005 at 19:03:42 PT US: Judge Revives Nevada Marijuana Petition US: Judge Revives Nevada Marijuana PetitionFound: Fri Jan 28 18:46:23 2005 PST Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL) Copyright: 2005 Tallahassee Democrat. Contact: letters tallahassee.com Website: http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/444 Webpage: http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee... Newshawk: http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/ SITE SERVICESAdvertiseVolunteer of the Year Download the Volunteer of the Year nomination form!THE DAY IN PHOTOSBack to Home } News } Friday, Jan 28, 2005Breaking NewsAssociated PressLAS VEGAS - Three state initiatives - including one that would make Nevada the first state to legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana - were revived Friday when a judge ruled that the secretary of state was wrong to raise petition requirements while signatures were being gathered.If the Legislature does not approve the initiatives, including two anti-smoking measures, they will end up on the 2006 election ballot.Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller's office had issued a guide that said petition-gathers needed to submit 51,337 valid signatures, based on 10 percent of the voter turnout in the 2002 election.By November, organizers of all three petition drives submitted enough signatures to meet that goal, but last month Heller decided the requirement actually should be based on voter turnout in the November 2004 election.None of the petitioners gathered the 83,156 signatures needed to meet the new standard, but U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan, ruling in the marijuana case, said the original standard still applied."The judge ruled they can't change the rules in the middle of the game," said Allen Lichtenstein, an attorney for American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which backed the challenge by the Marijuana Policy Project. http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/article/tallahassee6852.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by b4daylight on January 28, 2005 at 18:40:10 PT imagine 199,000 saved hours wow that is 829 days 11,940,000 min.the us?6,000,000,000,000 hours????? [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on January 28, 2005 at 17:37:22 PT Woo Woo Woo Dankhank! Thanks! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Dankhank on January 28, 2005 at 17:21:08 PT Like ... I like this story, too.Is is rare to find some truth that backs up our claims and to find it in a major newspaper.Hope springs eternal ... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on January 28, 2005 at 10:36:07 PT I Like This Article It has helped. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment