Fines for possessing cannabis to rise

DESPITE widespread opposition, Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, is to introduce tougher penalties for possession of soft drugs such as cannabis.

Maximum fines for possession of category B and C drugs are to be increased fivefold, from pounds 500 to pounds 2,500 in an amendment to be listed this week to the Criminal Justice Bill.

'The Home Secretary is giving this power to the courts and that will carry the clear signal that drug taking is not going to be taken lightly,' a Home Office spokesman said yesterday. Fines were last fixed in 1977 and were out of date with current prices, he said.

But the move comes at a time when a growing number of senior police officers have joined the ranks of judges, lawyers and drug-rehabilitation campaigners who believe legalisation is the only way to tackle both drug abuse and the associated property crime.

Last week, Labour released details of the first study linking drug abuse and crime costs, showing that addicts stole about pounds 2bn - equivalent to half the country's property crime - in order to finance their habits.

Yesterday Dick Coyles, chairman of the Police Federation, said that the move would do nothing to combat the growing drug menace. 'It just means people will go out and commit more crime in order to pay for the increased fines,' he said. 'But whether the courts will implement the new fines remains to be seen - they do not impose the maximum penalty now.'

Others fear the move will lead to a greater backlog in court work and that unpaid fines will lead to even more pressure on overcrowded prisons as fine defaulters will be sent to jail.

At present, half of all possession offences are dealt with by way of cautions and the Home Office spokesman said these could still be appropriate in certain circumstances and penalties would remain a matter for the courts.

He added: 'The Government have always been quite clear that they have no intention of legalising cannabis.'

Letters, page 15