Jails In UK To Take
Softer Line On Cannabis:
"Personal use of cannabis is not detrimental to good order and discipline".
See
"Mandatory
Prison Drug Testing May Have Perverse Effect" -
Discouraging Cannabis; Encouraging Hard Drugs. - London Times
and
Oklahoma Prisons
To Increase Random "Drug" Testing To Comply With Federal Mandates The
Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk
1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL England
letters@independent.co.uk
Saturday, 9 May 1998
Jails to take softer line on cannabis
By Ian Burrell, Home Affairs Correspondent
Prison governors are to be urged to take a softer line against prisoners using cannabis
as part of a new government strategy on drug use in prison.
Instead, more resources will be directed at tackling heroin users by subjecting them to
repeated drug-testing and greater punishments.
The Independent has acquired a copy of the 23-page review document which forms the
basis for the new strategy, which will be announced on Tuesday by drugs minister George
Howarth.
Prison service officials have been concerned that the large-scale
use of mandatory drugs-testing has led to thousands of drug-using inmates being given up
to 35 "extra days" on their sentence. More than 16,500 prisoners - mostly
cannabis users - were given punishments of extra days in the last financial year. This is
equivalent to filling one and a half jails for a year at a cost of over £10m.
Governors are to be urged to "distinguish between drug markets which generate the
most harm to individuals and prisoner safety and those that are less damaging". They
are advised to "increase the differential" between punishments for cannabis and
for Class A drugs and to consider alternative punishments such as loss of privileges and
restrictions on visits.
Both staff and prisoners indicated in the report that they
believe the system bears down too heavily on cannabis users. It states that 82 per cent
of prisoners agreed with the statement:
"People should be able to smoke cannabis in prison without fear of
punishment."
The review adds that "more surprisingly perhaps, interviews with wing officers
revealed ambivalent attitudes to reporting prisoners for smoking cannabis". Some 44 per cent of staff agreed with the statement: "Personal use of
cannabis is not detrimental to good order and discipline".
The review makes clear that drugs policies in prison will fall into line with those
recently announced by "drugs tsar" Keith Hellawell for the wider public. This
means a shift in emphasis towards improved drug treatment and education in order to reduce
demand.
The report carries some positive findings on the extent of drug use in prison, which
was running out of control only two years ago. Positive drug tests among prisoners have
fallen from 34.6 per cent in December 1995 to less than 20 per cent in the early months of
this year.
The mandatory random drug-testing programme, which requires some 10 per cent of inmates
to be tested, is expensive. The review recommends that governors reduce the amount of
mandatory testing and concentrate resources on inmates who have previously been found to
misuse a Class A drug.
Supported