An all-party committee of British lawmakers called for the reduction of criminal penalties for some drug offences – a day after the government announced tough new measures to stop children experimenting with illegal drugs.
In Tuesday’s report, the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee said that government policy should recognise that illegal drug use was often a ”passing phase” that ”rarely results in any long-term
harm.”
The committee, made up of lawmakers from all major parties, advocated that use of recreational drugs such as marijuana and ecstasy should be made a less serious offence than at present.
It said ecstasy should be downgraded from a Class A drug – a category that includes heroin and cocaine – to Class B, alongside amphetamines and barbiturates.
The move would reduce the maximum sentence for ecstasy possession from seven years to five, and for
supply or production from life to 14 years.
And, supporting a move already announced by the government, it said marijuana should be reduced from Class B to Class C, the same category as anabolic steroids. While it would still be illegal to use marijuana, possession of small amounts would not be an
arrestable offense.
”The harm caused by illegal drugs varies immensely from one drug to another and – since most users and potential users know this – there is no point in pretending otherwise,” the committee said in its report.
The lawmakers said drugs should not be decriminalised or legalised, as many groups that work with addicts recommend. The government considers drugs abuse a serious social and health problem in Britain. A European Union Drugs Agency report two years ago said Britain was the heaviest marijuana user among the 15
member nations, with one in 10 British adults having used in that year – double the European average.
The British government says the country has 250 000 ”problem” drug users – mostly heroin addicts – who commit a third of all property crime.
”We have to recognise that however much advice they are offered, many young people will continue to use drugs,” the report said.
”In most cases this is a passing phase which they will grow out of and, while such use should never be condoned, it rarely results in any long term harm.
”It therefore makes sense to give priority to educating such young people in harm minimisation rather than prosecuting them.”
The committee called for better treatment services – including heroin on prescription for addicts – and for the establishment of ”shooting galleries” where addicts could use drugs in controlled conditions.
Home Secretary David Blunkett, the government minister in charge of drug policy, said he welcomed the ”very thorough and thought-provoking report,” but did not agree that ecstasy should be downgraded.
”Ecstasy can, and does, kill unpredictably and there is no such thing as a safe dose. I believe it should remain Class A,” Blunkett said.
Blunkett also said the establishment of shooting galleries was ”not on the government’s agenda.”
He said the government would make a detailed response later in the summer. On Tuesday the government also announced new measures to stop children using illegal drugs. They include expulsion for pupils found dealing on school premises, more drug training for teachers and the screening of shocking videos showing young people who had died of drug overdoses.
Education Minister Ivan Lewis told a drugs seminar in London, where he outlined the government’s plans, that youngsters could learn from the death of 21-year-old Rachel Whitear, found dead of a heroin overdose in May 2000.
Her family has allowed photographs of her body to be included in a film warning schoolchildren of the dangers of drug abuse. – AP