BOut!! Cannabis? You seen this?

[policy.office@xxxxxxxxx]

Friends,
This is from a bloody good episode from the BBC's "Panorama" program
entitled "Cops on Drugs".  You can get the full text of the show at
--S  ----------


New study reveals police think coffee is more addictive than Cannabis. 
http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/events/panorama/newsid%5F521000/52148
7.stm

BBC, November 15, 1999

Panorama reveals the results of a new study which shows that the police
officers questioned believe coffee is more addictive than cannabis. The
study obtained by Panorama questioned police from three different forces
about their attitudes to drugs and cautioning. It was carried out by
researcher Hendrien Kaal of Bristol University as part of a
Ph.D.(hendrien@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) Ninety five officers across a range of ranks
were surveyed. Asked to rate substances for addictiveness, the police
questioned put drugs in the following order: 

?	1st Crack as the most addictive 
?	2nd heroin. 
?	3rd Cocaine 
?	4th tobacco 
?	5th alcohol 

Coffee is tenth ahead of cannabis, which was ranked lowest at eleventh. (i) 

When asked about potential harm caused by taking a substance cannabis rates
just ahead of coffee but scores far lower than alcohol and tobacco. (ii) 

Hypothetical scenarios 
In the study, the police questioned were also asked how they would respond
to scenarios involving different drugs.

Cannabis 
They were presented with a situation where the police go to a house where
the owner is growing four cannabis plants. There is also some additional
marijuana. Most of the police interviewed felt this was a run of the mill
sort of case and certainly not a major crime. 

Whatever their personal views of the current cannabis law: 

?	Two thirds said they would not prosecute in this case. (iii) 
?	Only 11 per cent said they definitely would prosecute. 
?	Nine out of ten felt, as drugs cases go, this one wasn't very serious. 

Heroin 
In a scenario involving heroin a routine stop and search takes place and a
man is found in possession. He says it is for his own use. He's an addict. 

This was considered by most officers to be a serious drugs case - or at
least a case involving a serious drug - and over two thirds say they would
prosecute. (iv) 

Ecstasy 
In another hypothetical case an 18 year old is detained by doormen at a
nightclub. They say he has been selling drugs. The police are called and
find he has 20 ecstasy tablets. 

Only ten per cent would consider cautioning while around eighty per cent go
for prosecution and ninety per cent are adamant that this is a serious drug
offence. (v) 

Cocaine 
In the final scenario a young mother is caught with cocaine. She and her
children have no home, and stay with her sister although she's hoping for a
place of their own. She said she was holding the small amount of cocaine, a
Class A drug, for somebody else; and she had children and she was violent. 

In this case only a slight majority of those questioned were likely to
prosecute. (vi) 

Notes on Study

(i) Each officer was given 11 substances and asked to rank them from 1 to
11 as most to least addictive. The results were averaged out for the 95
officers. The complete list of substances ranked as most to least addictive
is Crack, Heroin, Cocaine, Tobacco, Alcohol, Methadone, Amphetamines, LSD,
Ecstasy, Coffee, Alcohol. 

(ii) Each officer was given 11 substances and asked to rank them from 1 to
11 as most to least harmful. The results were averaged out for the 95
officers. The complete list of substances ranked from most to least harmful
is Crack, Heroin, Cocaine, LSD, Ecstasy, Amphetamines, Methadone, Tobacco,
Alcohol, Cannabis, Coffee. 

(iii) 42 out of 95 officers said they would not prosecute. 21 out of 95
said there was a less than 25% chance they would prosecute. (63 out of 95
in total.) 

(iv) 47 out of 95 respondents say they would prosecute. 21 out of 95 say
there is a 75% chance they would prosecute. (68 out of 95 in total) 

(v) 56 out of 95 respondents say they would prosecute. 23 out of 95
respondents say there is a greater than 75% chance they would prosecute.
(79 out of 95 in total)

(vi) 46 out of 95 respondents stated there was a more than 50% chance they
would prosecute the defendant. 


# # # # # # # # # # # # # # 

BBC Panorama, Monday 15 November 1999 

Cops on Drugs 
http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/events/panorama/newsid%5F517000/51777
3.stm

Reporter Peter Marshall, Producer Eamon Hardy

Panorama talks exclusively to policemen from the highest to the lowest
ranks about their views on tackling drugs. 

Tony Blair says he's petrified by drugs but the police, in the front line
of his war on drugs, have a far more street wise view. At the Labour Party
Conference this year the Prime Minister created headlines by calling for a
tough new approach to the problem. He suggested that anyone arrested for a
suspected crime should be drug tested. He said he feared for his children
in respect of drugs. 

Peter Marshall reports on the attitude of the police to everything from
cannabis to ecstasy, cocaine to heroin and reveals that some hold radical
views likely to concern the Prime Minister. 

As far as the police are concerned times have changed. Home Office figures
show that in the last ten years the police have dramatically shifted their
approach. Instead of prosecuting individuals for possession of cannabis,
they are far more likely to let them off with a caution. 

Cannabis less addictive than coffee.

The three year attitude study exclusively obtained by Panorama reveals that
the police regard heroin as a medical problem and are pragmatic about
cannabis use. When they were asked to rate the addictiveness of a variety
of substances they said: 

That cannabis was less addictive than coffee. That cannabis was less
harmful that alcohol or tobacco. 

This relaxed attitude to cannabis use is reflected in police use of
cautioning to deal with cannabis cases rather than prosecution. The
programme filmed with Hertfordshire Police where the cautioning rate for
drug offences has gone up from 3% ten years ago to around 50% now. 

In contrast the police still take a tough line with ecstasy, possibly
because of the media attention it has attracted. In the case of ecstasy in
the survey only ten per cent of the police would consider cautioning while
nearly 80 percent would go for prosecution. 

The relaxed line the police questioned took with cannabis reflects a belief
among some policemen that current drugs laws are muddled and should be
reformed 

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for related web sites 

Hendrien Karl Report author, University of Bristol 
She recorded police views on the dangers of different drugs

Francis Wilkinson, former chief constable of Gwent in South Wales 
He is the highest ranking policeman to come out in favour of legalisation
of some drugs, and believes cocaine consumption will continue to increase
unless we do something to manage the supply in a more effective way.
Wilkinson has now become a patron of drug reform lobby group Transform and
is campaigning for a change in the law. He says: "What I want is to take
the criminal out of the market. At present the whole drug supply business,
this whole enormous international industry, is controlled by criminals. If
we look at the social damage caused by the present regime, and I mean all
the violence and abuse that is carried on through the fact that it's a
criminal business, if we can get rid of that, then the fact that we are
supplying the drug through more highly regulated mechanisms locally will
probably be a good thing." 



*************************************************************************
Sanho Tree                               
Director, Drug Policy Project            202/234-9382 ext. 266 (voice)
Institute for Policy Studies             202/387-7915 (fax)
733 15th St., NW, #1020                  202/422-7952 (mobile)
Washington, DC 20005                 

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