Blunkett gambleswith our children
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The Sun 11 July 02
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by george pascoe-watson
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Deputy Political Editor <\/b><\/p>\n
DAVID Blunkett last night admitted he is taking a giant gamble with Britain\u2019s children by effectively legalising cannabis. <\/p>\n
The Home Secretary ruled dope smokers WON\u2019T be arrested. <\/p>\n
They will be merely ticked off and have their drugs confiscated. <\/p>\n
Mr Blunkett is downgrading cannabis to a Class C substance so police have more time to combat heroin and crack. The worry is more kids will turn to pot. <\/p>\n
Furious Labour MP Kate Hoey accused him of risking the future of the nation\u2019s youth, saying: In ten or 20 years\u2019 time, are you certain that you will not look back on this day as the one when you got it wrong?<\/p>\n
Mr Blunkett conceded the change was a gamble during stormy Commons exchanges. He said: There are no certainties when dealing with drugs policies. If there were, we would have found them by now.<\/p>\n
He decided to reclassify cannabis as Class C despite fierce opposition from the Government\u2019s own drugs czar Keith Hellawell. <\/p>\n
Ex-chief constable Mr Hellawell made his feelings clear hours earlier by announcing he had quit. <\/p>\n
Under historic changes, police will hand out fixed-penalty tickets to persistent dope users. <\/p>\n
People caught smoking the drug in the street will effectively be let off with a caution. <\/p>\n
An experiment in Kate Hoey\u2019s constituency in Lambeth, South London, where officers turn a blind eye to cannabis, will be expanded across the capital within weeks. <\/p>\n
The new approach will be nationwide by October. Miss Hoey said drug dealing and cannabis use had shot up since the Lambeth experiment began. <\/p>\n
She fumed: The message going out to families across the country is very stark and uncomfortable. <\/p>\n
Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin said: This is a muddled and dangerous policy. Why, if he is effectively decriminalising cannabis, does he still want people to buy their cannabis from criminals?<\/p>\n
And Tory MP Andrew Lansley said: There will be more opportunity for dealers interested in moving people from cannabis to harder drugs. <\/p>\n
Home Office officials insisted Mr Blunkett was NOT going soft. <\/p>\n
They said seven out of ten drugs convictions were for dope and that police should concentrate on hard Class A substances. <\/p>\n
A new offence of peddling outside schools will be brought in. And the maximum sentence for dealing in cannabis will be increased from five years to 14. <\/p>\n
A cop in drug-plagued Brixton said: We see a lot of kids smoking pot. Before, we could arrest them and get them to speak to a referral worker now we can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Dope trade
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in the open air
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By SARA NATHAN
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On the streets of Brixton <\/p>\n
A TRIO of men sat huddled together in the pouring rain looking furtively about as they passed around a sodden joint. It was only ten in the morning and the air was ripe with the smell of cannabis. <\/p>\n
Nervous mums hurriedly walked past the small leafy square with their tots in pushchairs. <\/p>\n
This was the scene in Brixton, South London, yesterday a few hours before David Blunkett announced the downgrading of cannabis. <\/p>\n
I walked down bustling Brixton High Street to the cries of skunk and dope as traders peddled their wares. <\/p>\n
Outside KFC where the toilets are locked to stop people injecting drugs a youth of 18 strolled up. <\/p>\n
Dressed in a yellow string vest and black baggy trousers, he grinned broadly and said loudly: Skunk man, the finest. <\/p>\n
Just yards away police officers, clad in black bullet proof vests, were patrolling. <\/p>\n
Opposite Lambeth Town Hall, deadbeats sipped cans of lager and beer. <\/p>\n
Tim Summers, 54, lit up a joint as I stood by. He is secretary of Cannabis Action London and smokes up to 40 joints a week. <\/p>\n
He said: There\u2019s so much weed around here that they\u2019d have to get a special cannabis squad to stop it being sold.<\/p>\n
Mum Nic Elborn, 32, walked past with her three-year-old-daughter Holly. <\/p>\n
Nic, of neighbouring Herne Hill, said: I don\u2019t want my little girl anywhere near drugs. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a big problem and I don\u2019t see how downgrading cannabis will solve it.<\/p>\n
Back on the green, police were questioning a suspect. As I watched, a man sidled up and tried to sell drugs to me. <\/p>\n
Drug users, dealers, cops and deadbeats … just a typical day in Brixton. <\/p>\n
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