Home Office refuses to issue guidance on drugs

The Home Office has said it has no plans to issue guidance for licensees following the recent relaxation of laws on cannabis use.

Despite calls from licensees and trade associations for ministers to clarify the law on the drug's use in pubs, ministers have so far failed to act to end widespread confusion.

Licensees fear there will be a huge influx of customers smoking cannabis on their premises following Home Secretary David Blunkett's announcement that the drug is to be downgraded from a class B to a class C substance.

Although this means it is still illegal, police are unlikely to arrest people for smoking the drug. But it is feared that police will continue to come down hard on licensees if the drug is found on their premises, resulting in them being fined or losing their licence.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office confirmed there were no plans for any guidance to be issued but stressed the law concerning licensees was unchanged.

"It's still illegal," a spokeswoman said. "It will depend on how the police interpret the reclassification as to whether they will eject pub customers who are smoking cannabis or whether the licensee will be prosecuted."

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers failed to shed any more light on the situation. He said: "It's difficult to say at the moment what will happen if someone is smoking cannabis in a pub."

But this does nothing to help the licensed trade.

The BII's John McNamara said he fully supported calls for guidance to be issued by Westminster.

He said: "Licensees definitely need to know what the situation is and they need to understand the difference between reclassification, decriminalisation and legalisation.

"We recommend that licensees take a recognised drug qualification and in the meantime adopt a policy of zero tolerance until the situation is clarified."

Publicans in Brixton, which was used as a test area for the plan, say the problem there is already serious and it is becoming difficult for licensees to keep ejecting cannabis-users.

Licensee Acin Buyukkar, who runs the Beehive Pub, said: "Over the last year and a half the problem has got worse. People are forever trying to light up joints in here."

Last week's article on the issue of cannabis use in pubs prompted widespread debate on thePublican.com.

Comments included:

Jason Cooper:​ "Already they attempt to smoke it on the premises. Now a large group of them think that it is perfectly legal to do so, because they won't be arrested."

Chris King:​ "Although users are not going to be prosecuted for smoking cannabis, will a licensee be found guilty if someone is found smoking on his premises? The government will need to advertise the full facts so everybody knows when and where smoking will be an arrestable offence."

Views are divided on whether cannabis should eventually be decriminalised, but most licensees agree that their life will now be made more difficult because of the current confusion. Let us know what you think - add your comments to this article.

Related articles:​

Trade attacks plans to re-classify cannabis (11th July 2002)

Cannabis law change has trade worried (25 March 2002)