20/07/2007 01:00:00
UK: More smoke than reason
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Crime statistics always provide a mix of gloom and cheer and yesterday's
batch proved no exception. Police-recorded crime edged down, but crimes
reported by individuals to the British crime survey nudged up: it showed
vandalism, for instance, rising by 10%. Elsewhere there were signs that
Britain is becoming less violent - recorded gun crime fell 13%, and
homicides hit an eight-year low.
The home secretary's reaction was equally mixed. Jacqui Smith was right
to emphasise the fact that Britain is a more law-abiding country than it
was a decade ago. She also showed that she realises that the fear of
crime - which the BCS suggests remains at stubbornly high levels - is a
problem. In a week where one survey suggested 30% of householders keep
makeshift weapons ready for self-defence, this emphasis seems fitting.
Some of her predecessors have been less keen to explain that much of
what we have to fear is fear itself.
On cannabis, however, neither ministers nor the media seem in a mood to
follow reason. Ms Smith's comments about smoking dope a university (how
fortunate that she did "not particularly" enjoy it) started a
predictable hunt for other ministerial confessions. And egged on by the
Conservatives (who last week raised the issue in their social policy
report), the government has ordered a review that could reverse the
brave decision to reclassify the drug at the start of 2004 - restoring
it to class B status. That would mean that mere possession would again
become an offence for which arrest would be the norm - and one for which
jail terms of up to five years could apply.
Ms Smith stressed the increasing prevalence of concentrated strains of
marijuana, and the (real) evidence of a link with mental illness for a
minority of those who smoke it. On neither front, however, has anything
changed since a government review last year rejected reversing the
reform. That conclusion was the right one. The traditional approach did
nothing to tackle the real risks of the drug. The argument against going
back was reinforced by yesterday's BCS. Three decades of tough
prohibition went hand-in-hand with an explosion in use. New figures
showed that since the reclassification, the proportion of 16-59 year
olds using the drug has fallen, from 11% to 8%. The police, meanwhile,
have issued record numbers of cautions.
If cannabis were put back in class B, officers may feel forced to choose
between turning a blind eye and wasting time in making arrests and
attempting prosecution. If Ms Smith wants to address the reality of
crime, as well as the perception, she should step back from a policy
that would ensnare the law in trivia.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2130615,00.html
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12716
Author:
The Guardian via UKCIA
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