The British government downfaced critics yesterday, including its own senior drugs adviser who resigned in protest, and announced what many believe to be the effective legalisation of cannabis for personal use.
The Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, told the House of Commons that from July next year, the drug would be re-classified as a Class C drug, as opposed to Class B. Cannabis will remain illegal, however, and while Mr Blunkett denied the accusation of decriminalising possession of it, having the drug will no longer be an arrestable offence.
Class A drugs include heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and LSD. Class B drugs will henceforth include amphetamines but not cannabis, while Class C drugs include steroids and relaxants, similar to prescription drugs like Valium.
The day before Mr Blunkett's announcement, the government's drugs policy adviser, the so-called drugs tsar and former police chief constable, Mr Keith Hellawell, resigned in protest. The move was "giving out the wrong message", he said.
Although the change will not take effect for a year, London's Metropolitan Police revealed it would extend an adapted version of the Brixton experiment - in which officers have been told to tolerate cannabis use - across the capital by late autumn.
Mr Hellawell, sidelined last year when he was given a part-time role as an adviser on international drugs issues, said of the government's new policy: "This would virtually be the decriminalisation of cannabis and this is, quite frankly, giving out the wrong message.
"Cannabis is simply not a sensible substance for people to take. There are strains of cannabis which are extremely powerful, hallucinogenic and very dangerous.
"It's moving further towards decriminalisation than any other country in the world."
His view was echoed in Northern Ireland by the drug and alcohol strategy co-ordinator there, Ms Jo Deakin, who said she was "fairly disappointed" with the decision, while understanding why it was "appropriate" to the rest of the UK.
"Their problem with class A drugs is horrendous," she said. "I understand their need to free up resources to tackle it. But our situation here is very different. Class A drugs are not a serious problem here. There are thought to be under a thousand heroin users in Northern Ireland. We have started to see some cocaine, but there is no crack. Our main problem is cannabis and ecstasy, and we have the resources to continue to focus on them.
"We are concerned about the impact of the reclassification on what we're trying to do here. It gives mixed messages," she said.
The measure provoked a rare outbreak of unity among northern politicians. Dr Joe Hendron of the SDLP said he was very concerned; Mr Paul Barry of the DUP said Mr Blunkett was giving a "very bad signal" and Mr Peter Wier, also of the DUP but formerly of the OUP, said the move was "very worrying indeed". He wanted Northern Ireland exempted from the change.
A spokesman for Mr Blunkett hit back at Mr Hellawell, claiming he had privately backed the move last year. "Keith Hellawell said to the Home Secretary in a meeting last autumn that he was fully supportive of the Home Secretary's proposal to reclassify cannabis," said the spokesman.
Mr Blunkett said, under the new regime, in most cases of cannabis possession police officers will simply "issue a warning and seize the drugs". Cannabis cafes - where the drug is sold and used openly - remain illegal and the police would be expected to close them down. An anti-drug education campaign would also be started, aimed at young people to highlight the lethal effect of Class A drugs in particular.
In a bid to counter allegations that he was going "soft on drugs", the Home Secretary said maximum sentence for dealing Class C substances would be upped from five years to 14, retaining existing penalties even though cannabis is being downgraded. It means that dealing in other drugs in Class C, including anabolic steroids and certain anti-depressants, will now also carry a theoretical 14 year penalty.
Additional reporting PA