NEW CANNABIS LAW COMES INTO FORCE
(Source:Western Gazette)
Regional News

29 Jan 2004

United Kingdom
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Cannabis has now been downgraded to the same status as anabolic steroids and anti-depressants.

Home Secretary David Blunkett's move to reclassify cannabis - first set in motion more than two years ago - means possession of the drug will not lead to arrest in most cases.

In the biggest shake-up of Britain's drug laws for 30 years, cannabis has been moved from class B to class C.

Police will no longer arrest most of the 80,000 adults a year who are currently charged with possession offences.

Mr Blunkett admitted last week that he expected the move would lead him to "take a bit of stick over the next few weeks".

Because of reclassification, the law has been changed to allow officers to arrest for possession of class C drugs.

But the Association of Chief Police Officers ( ACPO ) has drawn up guidelines which say arrests should only be made in aggravated circumstances, such as smoking a joint outside schools.

Under the new law, cannabis possession will be illegal but will "ordinarily not be an arrestable offence". Instead, police will give an on-the-spot warning and the drug will be confiscated.

It remains unclear how closely forces will stick to the Acpo guidelines. A survey by The Guardian newspaper last week indicated that some forces - such as Gloucestershire, Derbyshire and Hertfordshire - will continue to arrest cannabis users even for possession of small amounts, while others had introduced the "softly, softly" approach ahead of the formal change. Under the ACPO rules, aggravating features leading to arrest are: Smoking the drug in public; repeat offending; possession of the drug inside or near places where there are children, including schools and youth clubs; where users are causing a "local policing problem" which is creating a "fear of public disorder".



Canada's citizens and even PM has recently called for deciminalization, and the US threatened to sanction trade between the two. Rather than respect a country's wishes and compensate for it on the US side, they would rather threaten their neighbors.


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