Clause 5 - Limits on period of detention without charge
Criminal Justice Bill
9:10 am
Mr Humfrey Malins (Woking, Conservative)
My hon. Friend makes a telling point and anticipates a debate that we shall undoubtedly have on the possession of cannabis. At present, certain penalties are available for that offence. If clause 9 passes into law, however, it will be an arrestable offence. That will mean that a person arrested for possessing cannabis—subject to the five-year sentence, if the new provisions are passed—will find himself at the whim of the police as regards long-term detention. It is therefore fair to ask the Government what their true position on cannabis is, and we shall put that question to them in much more straightforward terms later. Are they complicit in the practice of many police forces in the London area, which merely warn, caution or, as my hon. Friend the Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) will no doubt remind us, give a conditional caution to people who possess a little cannabis? Do the Government support that approach? How is that consistent with placing the possession of cannabis in a category that will allow them to authorise chief superintendents and superintendents to detain people for up to 36 hours? According to the explanatory notes, that power is to be used in exceptional, rather than everyday cases. I would be rather worried if it were available for everyday cases.