One Step Forward, One Step Sideways, One Step Back

By Phillip Smith, DRCNet. Posted July 12, 2002.

British Home Secretary David Blunkett is finding himself in a bit of a pickle these days. Caught between a rising clamor for an end to cannabis prohibition on one hand and the grumblings of the forces of reaction on the other, Blunkett is busily making a fine muddle of what was supposed to be a straightforward move to effectively decriminalize marijuana possession in Great Britain. On Wednesday, Blunkett appeared before the House of Commons to lay out Labour's new drug strategy, and while he did announce that the Tony Blair government will reschedule cannabis from a Class B drug (amphetamines, barbiturates) to a Class C (steroids, tranquilizers), the announcement was so wrapped up in caveats, cross-currents and contradictions that cannabis decrim is arriving in Britain not with a bang but with a whimper.

Saying that the Blair government wished to distinguish "between drugs which kill and drugs that cause harm," Blunkett told the House of Commons that "cannabis possession remains a criminal offense," but then added that in most cases users would not be arrested. The move would effectively extend the so-called "Lambeth experiment," where police in the south London borough do not arrest but merely cite cannabis offenders, to the entire nation.

Bowing to pressure from social conservatives from within the Labour Party as well as the Tories, however, Blunkett told the House users could be arrested in certain circumstances. "They will be able to arrest for possession where public order is threatened or where children are at risk," he said. He also announced new measures that would heighten penalties for some cannabis offenses. And to add insult to injury, he also announced that because the changes he announced would require enabling legislation from Parliament, they would not go into effect until July 2003.

In a nutshell, the new Labour drug policy:

Reclassifies cannabis as a less serious Class C drug with users and possessors usually not subject to arrest, only citation. Gives police arrest powers for simple use or possession in cases where a so far ill-defined threat to public order or children exists. Increases maximum prison sentences for cannabis dealing from 10 years to 14 years. Will create a new criminal offense of supplying drugs to children. Has no provision for legal cannabis sales. Rejects the reclassification of ecstasy (MDMA) from a Class A to a Class B drug. Rejects plans for safe injection sites for heroin users. Acknowledges a role for heroin by prescription and on-premises injection for a limited number of Britain's estimated 200,000 heroin addicts.

Nobody is particularly happy. Former drug czar Keith Hellawell, who was sidelined last fall and sent into internal exile as an "international consultant," took Blunkett's pronouncement as a chance to resign with some notice. "This would virtually be the decriminalization of cannabis and this is, quite frankly, giving out the wrong message," he said in a press release. "Cannabis is simply not a sensible substance to take."

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