According to the British Home Office’s annual crime survey, self-reported pot use among young Britons (ages 16 to 24) has decreased 20% since 2004, the year the government decriminalized pot possession, making it a non-arrestable offense. Indeed, it appears that since the government’s downgrading pot possession, allowing officers to seize-and-warn individuals, pot confiscations have actually increased by some 54%, while arrests have dropped.
The news directly contradicts comments Prime Minister Gordon Brown made in July, when he argued that lawmakers should do away with the pot policy because it has led to a “significant” increase in drug use, reports NORML. (Brown has also insisted that new potent strains of pot have led to a rise in mental illness.)
Apparently Brown didn’t get the memo.
This article appears in November 2 • 2007.