GalwayFrancis
24/01/2006, 11:06 PM
Don’t charge cannabis smokers, DPP tells gardaí
By Cormac O’Keeffe and Mary Regan
CANNABIS users and other small-time offenders could receive a caution rather than a criminal conviction under a radical new scheme.
The Director of Public Prosecutions is understood to have advised the Garda Síochána that it doesn’t have to prosecute all minor offences and could caution offenders instead.
The scheme, full details of which have yet to emerge, has received an initial mixed response from people in drugs-related work.
The initiative, expected to be known as the Adult Cautioning Scheme, is based on the highly successful Juvenile Diversion Programme.
Conditions attached to the scheme include:
Offences must be relatively minor, such as public order offences or personal cannabis use cases.
By Cormac O’Keeffe and Mary Regan
CANNABIS users and other small-time offenders could receive a caution rather than a criminal conviction under a radical new scheme.
The Director of Public Prosecutions is understood to have advised the Garda Síochána that it doesn’t have to prosecute all minor offences and could caution offenders instead.
The scheme, full details of which have yet to emerge, has received an initial mixed response from people in drugs-related work.
The initiative, expected to be known as the Adult Cautioning Scheme, is based on the highly successful Juvenile Diversion Programme.
Conditions attached to the scheme include:
Offences must be relatively minor, such as public order offences or personal cannabis use cases.