UK: CANNABIS ARRESTS DROP BY A THIRD

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CANNABIS ARRESTS DROP BY A THIRD

Arrests for cannabis possession have fallen by a third in the first year
since the drug was downgraded, official figures showed today.

The Home Office said the move to re-classify the drug from Class B to Class
C had saved police in England and Wales an estimated 199,000 hours of work.

Cannabis is now ranked alongside anabolic steroids and some prescription
anti-depressants. Its possession is generally not an arrestable offence.

But ministers insisted that despite the softer policy, 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, they said.

A Home Office spokeswoman said that, based on provisional feedback from 26
of the 42 police forces in England and Wales, there were an estimated
24,875 fewer arrests in the year since reclassification.

There were an estimated 43,750 in the last 12 months compared with 68,625
in the previous period -- a fall of 36%, she said.

Because each arrest takes an average of eight hours to process, the 24,875
fewer arrests saved 199,000 hours of police time, she added.

Shadow home secretary David Davis said the next Tory government would
reverse the move with "immediate effect" and make cannabis a Class B drug
again.

"The downgrading of cannabis was a mistake which has sent mixed messages to
the young and the vulnerable about the dangers of drugs," he said.

"Mr Blair's Government is deceiving itself by using misleading figures to
measure cannabis use.

"Drug use among young people has almost doubled under Labour and British
teenagers are currently top of the EU league of cannabis use.

"The Home Secretary himself has acknowledged the link between cannabis and
Class A drugs.

"No government can be soft on drugs and tough on crime at the same time."

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.

Home Office minister Caroline Flint said: "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.

"I am also pleased that figures show that some predictions that cannabis
use by young people would increase were wholly unfounded."

Chief executive of drug charity DrugScope, Martin Barnes, said: "We
supported, and continue to support, the reclassification of cannabis.

"It is encouraging that cannabis use among young people has been declining,
although it is too soon to draw conclusions from the latest figures on the
impact of reclassification.

"The reclassification of cannabis was in recognition that all drugs are not
the same."

He added: "We need to move on from the debate on cannabis classification to
concentrating on practical responses to drug use and harm."

Rick Naylor, president of the Police Superintendents' Association, said:
"This shows police are still taking possession of cannabis seriously.

"But the saving in people hours can be used to deal with more serious
offences than cannabis.

"We are still acting out on the streets when we find people in possession
of cannabis because cannabis is still illegal."