http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,591447,00.html
Sunday November 11, 2001
Cannabis should be sold at licensed
outlets such as pubs, cafes and shops, according to a confidential survey
of police forces, courts, probation officers and drug care workers. Eighty-one
per cent of the 300 groups surveyed said that a system of licensed distribution
should be introduced as soon as possible.
The survey, conducted among the members
of the government-backed charity DrugScope, will ignite fierce controversy.
Anti-drug campaigners are furious at the increasingly relaxed attitude
of police towards the drug. A licensing system would cover cafes and pubs,
and GPs would be able to prescribe the drug.
The results of the survey will next
week be put before the home affairs select committee inquiry into drugs,
acting as a powerful indication to MPs of how law enforcement bodies privately
feel about the threat cannabis causes.
Police have long argued that the
pursuit of users detracts from the fight against organised criminals who
engineer the drug's supply. Roger Howard, chief executive of DrugScope
and a member of Blunkett's influential advisory committee, said: 'buying
cannabis will still lead people into transactions with organised crime
and drug dealers who may also be selling other more harmful drugs.'
But anti-drug groups warn that one
in four users goes on to try harder drugs. Peter Stroker, director of the
National Drug Prevention Alliance, said: 'Where [eased availability] has
been tried... use of the substance has increased. Nobody seems to be talking
about the vulnerable group of under-18s who take up cannabis. They now
have access to tobacco and alcohol with relative impunity, and to suggest
an age limit would stop this happening with cannabis is not just myopic,
it is cynical.'
© Guardian Newspapers Limited
2001
Nick Paton Walsh
The Observer
The lawful sale of cannabis is seen
by campaigners as the next step in liberalising the drug after its reclassification
as a class C substance, announced last month by Home Secretary David Blunkett.