Pubdate: Sun, 09 Jul 2006
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2006 The Observer
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315
Author: Gaby Hinsliff and Mark Townsend, The Observer
Mentioned: Drugscope  http://www.drugscope.org.uk/

HOME OFFICE OPENS DOOR TO LIGHTER DRUG PENALTIES

The classification system for illegal drugs should be scrapped,
according to a radical Home Office report proposing a shake-up in how
people caught taking them are treated and punished.

A review ordered by Charles Clarke before he quit as Home Secretary,
is understood to propose dropping the 35-year-old system under which
all illegal substances are categorised as either Class A, B or C with
corresponding penalties.

Instead it proposes ranking drugs along a 'spectrum of harm' ranging
from those which almost never kill their users and cause minimal
social impact, such as tranquillisers, to substances such as heroin
that cause fatal overdoses and fuel crime by addicts. Crucially that
would open the door to lighter penalties for drugs which experts argue
do not justify the most serious Class A status, such as magic
mushrooms and ecstasy.

The findings, which come as a senior chief constable called for a
debate on whether criminalising drug users works, have now been passed
to Clarke's successor, John Reid, and place him in an awkward
position. He is expected to try to kick the issue into the long grass
rather than face accusations of going soft on drugs, with officials
speculating he could try quietly to kill off the review.

However, the issue is unlikely to go away. The government's own
advisory body on drugs is backing an overhaul, while there is private
support among some senior Tories for a rethink of drug classification.
A report due later this year from the Commons science and technology
select committee is also expected to attack a system many scientists
regard as illogical and dictated by historical quirks rather than
clinical evidence.

Martin Barnes of Drugscope, the drugs charity which welcomed Clarke's
original decision to overhaul the system, said there should be a
public discussion of any proposed changes: 'Any review will raise
difficult and challenging questions, not least how the relative harms
of legal and illegal drugs are understood and reflected in policy. It
may be more than the Home Secretary wishes to bite off at this time.'

The revelation comes amid fresh debate about how users are treated.
Tim Hollis, chief constable of Humberside Police and the new spokesman
for the Association of Chief Police Officers on drugs, told The
Observer that the government must weigh the merits of prosecuting
individuals against those of targeting organised drug syndicates who
made vast profits from the misery of users, adding: 'We are talking
about our own sons and daughters at the end of the day.

'Do I want to criminalise my children? Well frankly, no. Do I want to
help them make the right choices when they go out and about into the
world? Then the answer is probably yes.'
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MAP posted-by: Derek