Blunkett backs police strategy on drugs

Home Secretary, David Blunkett, underlining the Government's support for police strategies to combat the most harmful drugs, has advanced plans to reclassify cannabis.

Guidelines for police strategies on dealing with harmful drugs are also to include broader discretionary powers for officers to deal with offences.

Mr Blunkett said that government would be putting forward a draft order to reclassify cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug early next year. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) will then publish revised details of how cannabis possession will be policed.

Mr Blunkett said: "The Government is determined to support the police in tackling the problem of drug abuse with an effective and realistic approach. Cannabis will not be legalised or decriminalised. It is a harmful drug that is illegal and will remain illegal.

"The change in classification will enable the police to target Class A drugs - such as heroin and crack/cocaine - which cause the most harm to users, their families and communities, as well as enhancing our work to get people into treatment.

"Our decision to reclassify cannabis followed the advice of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, a body of scientific and medical experts who advised that cannabis is harmful, but less harmful than other Class B drugs, such as amphetamines."

After reclassification most offences of cannabis possession by adults will result in a police warning and confiscation of the drug and will not usually result in an arrest, except where public order is at risk or where children are vulnerable.

People under 18 who are found in possession of cannabis will receive a formal reprimand or warning at a police station.

Commenting on the proposals, Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin said: “This is the worst of both worlds. There is a case for legalisation, and there is a case for getting people off drugs. What there is not a case for is making them semi-legal.

“These new guidelines are not clear, and will only cause further confusion for the police and for the public. This is not the fault of the police. It is the fault of the Home Secretary.”

(SP)