cannabisnews.com: Police Urge Return To Tough Line on Cannabis Police Urge Return To Tough Line on Cannabis Posted by CN Staff on June 26, 2004 at 19:13:38 PT By Gaby Hinsliff, Chief Political Correspondent Source: Observer UK Police are demanding a U-turn over the softening of the law on cannabis, claiming it has brought a 'sense of lawlessness' to the streets as smokers flaunt their habit. Officers say more people are openly taking and selling cannabis in public, with calculated attempts to provoke retaliation, according to the chair of the Police Federation. Jan Berry said her members were 'walking on eggshells' amid tensions over whether they treated different groups in their communities differently for smoking in the streets. Six months after the government downgraded cannabis to a Class C drug, there was still widespread confusion about how to treat blatant smokers who went beyond 'acceptable behaviour' in public, she said. 'If a person insists on doing something to get themselves arrested, you can use your skills to try and calm them,' said Berry, whose organisation represents frontline officers. But 'there will be other people watching how you react, if you react in one way to a group of people and not the same to somebody else. It's very often walking on eggshells.' The legal change, which means that people can still be arrested for possessing cannabis but are unlikely to be, had left officers confused, Berry said. Many would not, for example, arrest someone for blowing dope smoke in their faces, but they were torn: 'The government's saying, "It is not really serious, we don't want you to prioritise it." But it is an arrestable offence, and now we get people saying, "Go on, arrest me".' The Home Office insists the change allows the police to concentrate on more serious offences involving hard drugs and that there is no evidence of higher cannabis consumption. New figures expected to show significant successes in tackling the smuggling of heroin, cocaine and other Class A drugs will be used to justify the policy. Caroline Flint, the Home Office minister responsible for drugs policy, is monitoring national arrest patterns across the country to see how different forces react. Danny Kushlick, of the drugs charity Transform, said the reform had made little practical difference: many officers had, in effect, ignored personal use of cannabis before the law changed. But some forces were still 'being quite heavy' on cannabis offences, while others were letting smokers off without even a caution. Kushlick said it was 'a hard thing' for officers to operate. 'You effectively have a law that cannot be enforced.' The solution was the complete legalisation of cannabis. The federation's Berry called for a public debate over the law on soft drugs. 'I think it would be wrong to change the law every six months because it hasn't worked,' she said. 'But I am convinced it is not law enforcement which will make a real different in drugs. It's about properly raising awareness and treatment programmes.' She is concerned about growing evidence of a link between cannabis smoking and psychotic illness. Labour backbenchers want the government to commission more independent research into the potential health risks. Although a European Union-wide study found that potency of the drug had changed little between 1979 and 2001, recent British research suggests some versions are now two to three times stronger than average. John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, who supported reclassification and believed it was 'highly ignorant' to suggest the change had encouraged dope smoking, also said more action was needed on the health risks. 'There is a difference between drinking a bottle of beer and a bottle of whisky, yet people wouldn't immediately recognise the difference with cannabis,' he said. Mann wants Britain to follow the example of Queensland in Australia, where dope smokers are cautioned, but sent to a health counsellor to discuss their habit. Home Office aides retorted yesterday that the Police Federation had always been opposed the reform, and officers could arrest smokers who behaved provocatively. 'This wasn't done at the behest of rank-and-file officers, it was done at the behest of leader of the police services who wanted the operational freedom to spend more of their time tackling Class A drugs,' said a source close to David Blunkett, the Home Secretary. 'And part of the agreement we reached with police was explicitly to give them the power to still arrest people who were effectively winding them up,' the source said. Evidence on the psychiatric effect of cannabis had already been considered, and ministers had never denied it carried health risks. 'It remains harmful to the user.' A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said it was 'too early' to judge how the law was working. It had issued guidelines on when arrests should be made. · Police claim drug dealers openly flout the law · Officers fear community backlash over arrests Source: Observer, The (UK)Author: Gaby Hinsliff, Chief Political CorrespondentPublished: Sunday, June 27, 2004Copyright: 2004 The ObserverContact: letters observer.co.ukWebsite: http://www.observer.co.uk/Related Articles:No Wonder The Police Are Confused http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19071.shtmlBiggest Shake-Up of Britains Laws in 30 Yearshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18261.shtmlThe Case for Small Home Growers http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18249.shtmlHalf of All Cannabis Possibly Grown at Home http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15953.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #16 posted by Dankhank on June 28, 2004 at 05:40:12 PT good point thanks for putting it in perspective, Ganda [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by Ganda on June 28, 2004 at 04:20:27 PT although the police are accused of... being racist, corrupt etc, there's a lot of people who have deep respect for the majority of them. Some have openly stated that drugs should be made legal. They don't seem as barbarac and power crazy as in the US.Just a few minority getting to use the microphone. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by Petard on June 27, 2004 at 16:17:12 PT FoM and EJ, on W. Nile West Nile virus causes massive cellular apoptosis, from what my Microbiology professor (head of a tri-state crime lab and on the boards of several area wide emergency response type civil groups) it is pretty much system wide apoptosis. It's this cellular suicide that makes W. Nile so hard on young kids and the elderly. The kids since the little bodies don't have as much tissue available overall so loss of a portion is more difficult to get over (kinda like taxation: 10% of your million dollars still leaves you wealthy, 10% of your one dollar and you're limited buying power is even more limited) and the elderly because their regenerative capability is diminished. On the question of cannabis and it's effect, or lack of any effect, on W. Nile: Sounds like a good proposal for a study since cannabis restores apoptosis capability to some types of cancerous tumors and yet seems to slow apoptosis in other situations in vivo.Apoptosis is a self regulatory control mechanism. The W. Nile virus (and many others) is obviously viewed by the cells as an invader, and rather than submit to being overtaken and being co-opted into producing more copies of the virus, instead of their regular functions, the cells kill themselves. Cancer cells "turn off" this ability of cells to commit suicide when something in the cellular machinery screws up and so the cancerous cells simply continue to grow, replicate, etc., and continue the cellular machinery screw-up by passing it along to their cellular offspring. This results in sometimes huge tumors of irregularly functioning cells since the cells don't recognize they're screwed up and thus don't kill themselves. (think of Steve Kubby's adrenal cancer. If his messed up adrenal cells would recognize they're screwed up and die, leaving the correctly functioning ones, he'd be fine. It's a very fine line the role of apoptosis in a living being; too much of it is bad (W. Nile), but so is too little of it (adrenal cancer)) [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by Dankhank on June 27, 2004 at 12:59:12 PT So What? The coppers should just suck it up ...They're wanting to return to locking people up for a spliff, because the smokers are mocking them?Tiny little minds making tiny little pleas that the masses must respect them ...Hey Coppers!!!!! You lost respect over the decades when you hassled smokers knowing most of them are harmless. If the masses read this story you may find yourself surrounded by mocking smokers and then I suppose you would ask for a gun.Here in the USA mocking a cop can result in death ... you wanna go there??? Mock all of them! [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by Sam Adams on June 27, 2004 at 10:22:55 PT confusion? 'If a person insists on doing something to get themselves arrested, you can use your skills to try and calm them,' said Berry, whose organisation represents frontline officers. But 'there will be other people watching how you react, if you react in one way to a group of people and not the same to somebody else. It's very often walking on eggshells.'Um, I don't know....leave them all alone? Is that too complicated for your feeble enforcer brain to handle? [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by E_Johnson on June 27, 2004 at 09:03:17 PT It's really really sad here I live near LA. West Nile is officially an epidemic.The poor crow families are all grieving. They're very vocal this time of year because they're usually nesting and they defend their nests by screeching.Now they aren't screeching, it sounds more like just one last crow sobbing. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by afterburner on June 27, 2004 at 06:25:22 PT Is the UK a Police State? "Police are demanding" -- "Police are demanding a U-turn over the softening of the law on cannabis" -- "demanding" -- "demanding"Do the police think they are above the law? Do the police think they "are" the law? No, they are just irritated at provocative jerks, who do not deserve the hard-won freedom to enjoy the herb. Show some respect people, show some restraint. Give the police time to adjust to new realities.And police, back off on the punitive reaction. Deal with the individuals responsible and don't over-generalize. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by billos on June 27, 2004 at 05:06:14 PT E.J............ Where do you live???? I never heard of crows just dropping from the sky. That's pretty scary. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by FoM on June 26, 2004 at 21:24:18 PT Maybe It's Losing It's Strength If you had it and are getting over it you should be immune I would think. I hope so. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on June 26, 2004 at 21:19:27 PT It may be too late FoM I was sick last week and I thought it was just more prednisone side effects but it could have been West Nile, I told my doctor the symptoms and she's having me tested for it.Most people who get it never even know it, they say. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on June 26, 2004 at 21:16:16 PT That Would Bother Me Too EJ, I don't think I even have to mention to be careful. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on June 26, 2004 at 21:06:44 PT It's terribly sad FoM I'm afraid to let my dog out of the house because I don't want her harassing dying crows. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by John Tyler on June 26, 2004 at 20:47:15 PT Will get to be uneventful Some British police are feeling uncomfortable because of this social change. They have to change their mindset and what they were trained to do. When they see someone smoking they want to make an arrest. (like an old firehorse that get excited when he hears the fire alarm) The newness will soon wear off and cannabis use will be normal and maybe even boring. It will not be a big deal, just like going to a bar to have a drink with friends. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on June 26, 2004 at 20:44:26 PT EJ That's Not Good I believe Dr. Russo is still out of the country. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on June 26, 2004 at 20:30:57 PT Paging Dr. Russo :-) Where I live, the crows are dropping dead all over the place from West Nile virus.I notice the worst complications of the virus are neurological. Is there any tradition in African folk medicine of using cannabis to treat those complications? [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by cloud7 on June 26, 2004 at 19:20:38 PT ... "Police are demanding a U-turn over the softening of the law on cannabis"I think pedal to the metal on the highway to freedom would be much more appropriate than a U-turn on it. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment