British Researchers Call for Softer Pot Cultivation Laws
Mike Wendling
London Bureau Chief
London (CNSNews.com) - Half the cannabis consumed in England is home-grown and the U.K. government should consider lighter penalties for cultivating marijuana to correspond with changes in drug possession laws, according to a study released Monday.
Researchers said that softening penalties for home-grown marijuana could break the link between the drug and criminal gangs that also peddle harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin.
The study was carried out by London's South Bank University and the National Addiction Centre and sponsored by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Co-author Mike Hough said cultivation had been "overlooked" in an ongoing discussion over marijuana in Britain.
"Debate has so far ignored the issue of cultivation and the opportunities for careful reform that would reduce the harm caused by dangerous drugs and drug dealing," he said.
Following a lengthy parliamentary review, Home Secretary David Blunkett announced last summer that possession of marijuana would be downgraded from a Class B to a Class C drug offense, putting pot on a par with steroids and sleeping pills.
In practice, possession of small quantities of the drug will not be an arrestable offence from the time the new law takes effect in July. Instead, police will issue warnings or a court summons.
At the same time, Blunkett advocated toughening laws against those dealing the drugs and increased the maximum penalty from 10 years to 14 years in prison.
Earlier this year, the changes prompted criticism of Britain by a U.N. drugs panel. This week, a special U.N. meeting in Vienna will examine international drug control efforts.
Hough said "large minorities" of British young people use marijuana.
"It is essential to insulate them as much as possible from drug markets operated by dealers who sell not only cannabis but crack and heroin," he said.
"If small-scale home cultivation attracted an on-the-spot warning rather than a caution or a court conviction, it is likely that more users would switch to growing their own and stop buying from dealers," he said.
Lenient penalties could drive drug dealers out of the cannabis business, the researchers concluded.
Hough said the academics, who questioned home growers, their suppliers and local police departments, also found a wide disparity between how the national law was enforced in different police districts.
"We're saying a more uniform and more lenient approach could be successful," he said.
Some drug groups have welcomed the study.
"The report highlights the anomalous, contradictory nature of government policy," said a spokesman for the pro-legalization Transform Drug Policy Institute.
The institute advocates regulation and control of production and supply of drugs.
"All other things are just tinkering at the margins," the spokesman said.
Loosening drug laws has been opposed, however, by some Christian groups and by the National Drug Prevention Alliance.
The alliance said that Blunkett's announcement last year resulted in an increase in cannabis use of about 20 percent among young people.
Alliance leader Peter Stoker told the BBC: "I would have hoped that this would give Mr. Blunkett a clear signal that he needs to have another think."
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