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UK to Get Tough on Pot

Brown will reclassify marijuana, stiffen penalties just 3 years after Blair relaxed them

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 4, 2008 9:14 AM CDT

(Newser) – The British government is set to tighten the law on marijuana, reclassifying it as a more dangerous drug and imposing a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison for possession. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is determined to designate pot as a class B drug, only three years after Tony Blair downgraded it to class C. 

Brown's plan goes against the recommendation of Parliament's advisory council on drugs, which supports keeping marijuana as a class C drug, reports the Independent. In 2004, the Blair government relaxed pot laws to allow police to concentrate on the fight against harder drugs. Since then possession of marijuana, while still a crime, has led to confiscation and a warning rather than a criminal prosecution.

Gordon Brown with George W. Bush at the NATO conference in Bucharest. Brown is personally fighting to tighten cannabis possession laws in the UK.
Gordon Brown with George W. Bush at the NATO conference in Bucharest. Brown is personally fighting to tighten cannabis possession laws in the UK.   (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Gordon Brown at his monthly press conference in London. Brown is personally fighting to tighten cannabis possession laws in the UK.
Gordon Brown at his monthly press conference in London. Brown is personally fighting to tighten cannabis possession laws in the UK.   (AP Photo)
Gordon Brown is personally fighting to tighten cannabis possession laws in the UK.
Gordon Brown is personally fighting to tighten cannabis possession laws in the UK.   (File photo)
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