Police chiefs plan softer approach to hard drugs

Chief constables will call today for some heroin and cocaine users to be sent for treatment rather than ending up in court.

In radical plans for a shake-up of the drug laws, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) also proposes a more relaxed approach towards those caught with small amounts of cannabis.

A similar policy has been pioneered under the direction of Brian Paddick, the controversial commander whose tactics have led to an increase in arrests for hard drugs in his south London borough.

Figures out in March showed that drug arrests rose by more than 65 per cent in a year in Lambeth after Commander Paddick decided not to arrest cannabis users and instead pursue heroin and crack cocaine dealers.

The Metropolitan Police's statistics showed that there were 159 class A drug arrests in Lambeth in February compared with 96 for both cannabis and class A drugs in the same month last year.

Levels of street crime were cut by 35 per cent and burglaries were down as was the number of hours that police were using for paperwork following cannabis arrests.

In Lambeth, cannabis users have had their drugs confiscated but given only a verbal warning.

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, announced plans in October to reclassify cannabis from a class B to a class C drug. Acpo said officers should be allowed to make the decision on whether to caution users or take firmer action that could lead to the courts.

In its national policy statement, Acpo said it looked forward to the time when those who appear in court for misuse of class A drugs will have immediate access to treatment. It added that using hard drugs was often a health issue but users were instead being punished.

Immediate treatment should sometimes be a real alternative to a caution or conviction, the statement from Acpo's influential drugs committee said.

The move would allow addicts to seek treatment instead of being prosecuted. It is likely to revive the heated debate on the issue but the Government is unlikely to accept further relaxation of drugs laws.

The chief constables remain opposed to the decriminalisation of all drugs, warning that it could lead to a rise in crime with a wave of "drug tourists" coming into the country. They are also against the downgrading of ecstasy from class A to class B and the establishment of "shooting galleries", or safe areas where heroin addicts can inject the drug.

The committee's chairman, the Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, told The Times: "Greater use of treatment is the real option. Use of class A drugs is a health issue but we are giving a punitive response."

Last year he told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that he would support the reclassification of ecstasy if "medical and scientific evidence suggests it".

It has also emerged that senior police officers had looked into proposals to issue heroin to addicts at police stations. Acpo said it was not a firm policy statement but made it possible to have heroin regulated and monitored from police stations.