As US pardons cannabis convictions Tories call for it to be classified the same as heroin

Atlantic rift widens on approach to drug laws

US president Joe Biden has pardoned cannabis convictions (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Tory police chiefs have called for cannabis to be classified the same as heroin – the same week US president Joe Biden pardoned thousands of people convicted of possessing the drug.

While the US has led the way in legalising cannabis the UK has cracked down harder than ever, with penalties of five years in prison on the books for simple possession.

But Conservative police and crime commissioners this week urged the government to go further and reclassify cannabis as a 'Class A' drug.

"There are so many crimes linked to drugs that, actually, by addressing this, by giving us this clarity, it makes it clearer for our police to be able to do what they need to do," said David Sidwick, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset.

The change would lift the maximum penalty for 7 years in prison for any one caught with cannabis, and life in prison for anyone caught dealing it.

But the comments have provoked criticism, with Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael telling The Independent that the public"expects Government policy to follow science and evidence".

"These Conservative police commissioners are just distracting from the rising crime rates in their own backyards because of their failed approach to law and order," he said.

"They should go back to the basics, and perhaps start listening to the scientific evidence before pushing meaningless policies."

The UK approach and calls to toughen it further contrasts with the approach taken on the other side of the Atlantic.

Cannabis, or marijuana as it is more widely known in the US, is available for medical reasons in 37 out of 50 US states, with recreational weed legal in 19 states.

A further 12 states have decriminalised its use, meaning its use is treated as a health rather than law enforcement issue.

US president Joe Biden took another step this week, expunging federal convictions for simple possessions of marijuana.

Nobody is currently in US federal prison solely for the possession of a cannabis as most convictions happen at the state level

But 6,500 people are expected to benefit from the pardons, which will make it easier for people with criminal records to get employment and access services.

"Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit," Mr Biden said on Thursday.

Despite the high penalties on paper for cannabis possession in the UK in many parts of the country it is smoked openly with little or uneven enforcement.

Responding to the police and crime commissioners' call spokesperson for the Home Office said: "There are currently no plans to reclassify cannabis, which is controlled as a Class B drug in the UK on the basis of clear medical and scientific evidence of its harms."