Cameron, Cannabis and Conservative policy on drug education

The media at the weekend had extensive coverage of revelations in a new biography of the Conservative leader that he took cannabis as a young man.

Our interest in this is whether Mr Cameron’s experiences – his school didn’t inform the police or exclude him from school – will inform the policy position his party takes on drug education.

At the last election the Conservatives promised to:

stop sending mixed messages on drugs by reversing Labour’s reclassification of cannabis as a less serious drug, changing it from class ‘C’ back to class ‘B’.

We will support the social institutions – families, schools, voluntary bodies and youth clubs – that can prevent crime and drug dependency before it starts.

And, during the passage of the 2005 Drugs Act, Conservative front bench politicians, including the current Shadow Home Secretary, argued for an increase in the random testing of pupils as a way of preventing drug dependency.

More recently, as Shadow Education Secretary, David Cameron called for more ex-users to be used in class rooms, and according to the TES argued that the:

Labour government concentrates too much emphasis on reducing the effects of drugs – and not on reducing the use of drugs he claims, not going far enough to wipe out the impression that drug use is cool and glamorous.

As leader of the Conservative Party Mr Cameron asked Iain Duncan Smith to chair the Conservative Party’s Social Justice Policy Group. In December they brought forward an interim report, Addicted Britain, which describes the issues they believe need to be addressed and they say “prevention and intervention will be the underlying themes of the policy solutions proposed in the final report.”

It isn’t clear how different this might be from the interventions they were proposing in 2005.

Update: The Daily Telegraph report that David Cameron remains convinced that cannabis should be reclassified as a Class B drug:

He believes the downgrading of cannabis sent out the message that it was a soft, safe drug and encouraged consumption. Police are now more likely just to confiscate the drug and give users a warning.

The evidence tends to suggest that there hasn’t been a growth in consumption, and that there may have been a small fall in use since cannabis became a Class C drug. Analysis of the British Crime Survey by the Home Office says this about 16 to 24 year olds:

Between 1998 and 2005/06 the use of any illicit drug in the past year by young people decreased. This is mainly due to the gradual decrease in cannabis use over this period.

As for how the police deal with cannabis you’ll recall we covered this only a few weeks ago, where police officers are advised:

Section 65 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 requires that such young people [caught in possession of cannabis] are considered for a reprimand, final warning or prosecution. However, that does not mean you have to arrest at the time in order to seize the cannabis. You could decide to take the young person home to the protection of their parent or guardian. Taking this action would not prevent a later warning or reprimand being given or a prosecution being commenced, at a later date. However if that is not possible and you have no reasonable alternative then you should have no difficulty justifying that an arrest is necessary in your case.

I’d also return your attention to this post about the number of people being caught in possession of cannabis in London.

Filed under: Conservatives