Government says no to cannabis cafes

Britain will not go down the route of Amsterdam-style cannabis "coffee shops" in the wake of David Blunkett's move to relax the law on the drug, a government official signalled today.

The Home Secretary revealed last week his plans to downgrade cannabis to a Class C drug alongside steroids and sleeping pills rather than a Class B drug like amphetamine.

The change will mean it is no longer an arrestable offence to be caught with small amounts of cannabis. Police will follow a scheme in Lambeth where officers are confiscating the drug and giving people a verbal warning.

Giving evidence to a committee of MPs who are looking at whether the Government's drug policies are working, Sue Killen, director of drugs strategy at the Home Office, confirmed that the effect of the change would be that no one was prosecuted for possession.

But she made clear that next spring's relaxation of the law did not go hand in hand with the creation of a culture where cannabis could be openly smoked in caf?s.

Labour MP David Winnick, of the home affairs select committee, said that 26 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds used cannabis and he put forward an argument that the Government should go a step further and legalise cannabis.

He said: "Smoking and alcohol abuse are very dangerous. Wouldn't it be more sensible that the market be regulated properly and legally rather than allowing even more profits to go to those who trade in a criminal way with cannabis and hard drugs?"

Ms Killen said ministers were not expecting the relaxed law to lead to greater use. "Growth in use has only come with commercialisation via coffee shops in the Netherlands."