Pot stops: British drug reform.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Citings - Proposal to make marijuana "Class C" drug - Abstract

ACCORDING TO FBI figures released last fall, American police arrested more than 734,000 people for marijuana violations in 2000-a new record. About nine out of 10 arrests were for possession, and the other category, sale/manufacture, included cultivation for personal use.

In the United States, then, it's clearly not true that no one gets arrested for smoking pot anymore. But it looks like that will soon be the case in Britain, home of Europe's harshest drug laws.

Last fall British Home Secretary David Blunkett announced a proposal, expected to take effect this spring, to make marijuana a "Class C" drug. This status, which is shared by anabolic steroids and sedatives such as Valium, means police will no longer have the power to arrest pot smokers.

In theory, possession will still be punishable by up to two years in jail, but prosecutions will have to be authorized by a court. In practice, most people caught with small amounts of cannabis will get off with a warning.

The new policy brings Britain closer to other European countries that have eased up on drug users. The Netherlands has long tolerated not only the use but the retail sale of cannabis. Spain does not punish drug use, and in Italy marijuana smokers receive warnings or administrative penalties. Last year Portugal eliminated...