Britain Chills Out Its Marijuana Laws

Prime Minister Tony Blair's government moved Wednesday to relax its laws on marijuana, stopping short of legalization but guaranteeing most users will get off with just a warning while police focus their enforcement efforts on harder drugs.

Under the proposal, marijuana would be downgraded from a Class B to a Class C drug, making its use and possession less serious crimes, Home Secretary David Blunkett said in outlining the plan to the House of Commons.

Police would retain the authority to arrest those caught with marijuana, but in most cases would simply confiscate the drug and issue a warning.

"The message to young people and families must be open, honest and believable," Blunkett said. "Cannabis is a potentially harmful drug and should remain illegal. However, it is not comparable with crack, heroin and Ecstasy."

The proposed downgrade would put marijuana on a par with anabolic steroids instead of amphetamines and barbiturates, the drugs it is grouped with now. Blair's Labor Party has a large majority in Parliament and the proposal is virtually certain to pass.

Blair said the proposal did not amount to decriminalization and had wide support among the police because it would allow them to spend more time fighting more serious drugs.

"The power to arrest remains, but what reclassification does is allow the police, where they think it right, to focus on hard drug dealing and drug dealing of any description, including cannabis, and that is why the proposals are supported by the chief police officers and the Metropolitan Police," he told the House of Commons.

Casual users who enjoy a puff at the weekend might applaud the softer laws, but small-time producers who illegally grow plants in their homes shuddered after Blunkett increased the maximum penalty for dealing from five to 14 years.

"All the government is doing is driving the small, cottage-industry growers out of business and leaving cannabis production to the bad boys, the real criminals who don't fear jail sentences," one London grower told Reuters.

"I can see the bubble bursting for the cottage industry in maybe 18 months ... but maybe that's what they want to do, stop people growing it altogether," he said.

Surprisingly, growers find themselves allied on the issue with the opposition Conservatives, who have called the new policy an unworkable middle ground that leaves production in the hands of unscrupulous dealers.

One government adviser resigned in protest.

In the United States, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws praised the British policy shift, saying it would be similar to changes made in 12 U.S. states.

"Great Britain's reclassification of cannabis is an honest and common sense approach to refocus drug policy on those substances that cause the most harm," said the group's founder and executive director, Keith Stroup.

In Britain, possession of a Class B drug currently carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

Possession of a Class C drug carries a maximum sentence of two years, but the Home Office said that penalty is rarely invoked for first-time offenders, who normally receive only a ticket.

Blunkett said that in most marijuana possession cases police would simply confiscate the drug and issue a warning to the offender.

But, he said, the proposed rules would give officers the power to arrest those possessing small amounts of pot if public order is threatened or children are put at risk.

A Home Office spokesman said Blunkett could order marijuana reclassified, but because he wants to modify the rules to make sure officers retain the power to arrest, the change must be approved by Parliament, which approves virtually anything Blair requests.

Blunkett said he hoped to have the reclassification in place by July 2003.

Long before Blunkett's experiment with softer marijuana laws, the tide of opinion had turned in favor of cannabis.

An ICM poll published in April found that more than half of young people in Britain and 28 percent of the whole population -- or about 13 million people -- had taken illegal drugs.

Five million regularly puffed on cannabis joints, while more than two million had ingested amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy.

Entrepreneurs anticipating a softening of cannabis laws have already opened Dutch-style cannabis cafes, where the drug is openly sold and smoked.

Blunkett said the Metropolitan Police would, over the next several months, expand to the entire city a pilot project launched in the Brixton neighborhood to experiment with ticketing marijuana users instead of arresting them.

Oliver Letwin, the Conservative Party spokesman on law and order issues, called the proposal "muddled and dangerous," saying Blunkett had failed to choose between legalizing marijuana and getting serious about arresting those who use it.

Blunkett said the proposed downgrade would be accompanied by a beefed-up anti-drug education campaign, teaching young people that all drugs can harm them and hard drugs can kill.

His announcement followed recommendations from a House of Commons committee and an independent advisory group. He rejected recommendations that Ecstasy be downgraded from Class A to Class B and that "shooting galleries" be set up for addicts to use drugs in controlled conditions.

Blunkett had said last fall that he was inclined to downgrade marijuana, but would wait to hear from the two panels and watch the Brixton experiment before making a final decision.

He said Wednesday that police in Brixton had arrested 10 percent more hard drug dealers since they stopped apprehending marijuana users.

Blunkett's announcement came several hours after a top anti-drug official said he was resigning to protest the reclassification.

Keith Hellawell, a government adviser who previously served as Britain's drug czar, said marijuana was dangerous and led some users to try harder drugs.

"It is a softening of the law and it's giving the wrong message," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.

The Home Office said Hellawell told Blunkett last year that he supported the proposal to reclassify marijuana, and that he had submitted his resignation last month, effective in August, but asked that it not be announced immediately.