Ref. 28819-12From today, if you are caught smoking a cannabis joint in your own home, the police will turn a blind eye. TAMASH LAL asks if it is just a case of the law finally catching up with reality or whether downgrading a 'soft' drug like cannabis could prove to be a slippery slope.

BOB Dylan sang about it, Queen Victoria used it as a medicine, and as, of today, anyone caught possessing it is unlikely to be arrested.

The law on cannabis is being relaxed, meaning most users caught with small amounts of the drug will face nothing more than an informal warning.

But anyone contemplating smoking a joint while strolling down Regent Street or relaxing by the pond in Queen's Park be warned: cannabis is still an illegal substance and anyone caught smoking it in public can still be arrested.

The Government claims downgrading the drug from Class B to Class C better reflects the health risk compared with other banned substances.

Proponents of the move also say it will allow police to spend extra time fighting more serious drugs, such as heroin and crack cocaine, both of which are a growing problem in Swindon.

The reclassification puts cannabis in the same category as anabolic steroids and tranquillisers. Previously, it was grouped alongside amphetamines and barbiturates.

Although about 1.5 million people are daily cannabis users, the law change has been highly controversial.

Conservative leader Michael Howard has even vowed to reverse the legislation, saying it sends out the wrong message.

On the other hand, those supporting the legalisation of cannabis say the Government has not gone far enough.

And that view is rapidly gaining ground according to the Swindon-based Economic and Social Research Council, which last year found 41 per cent of British people want it legalised.

But Swindon's drugs czar Glenys Armstrong believes the pro-cannabis lobby is misguided.

Mrs Armstrong, who heads the town's Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT), said: "Cannabis is a harmful drug which affects concentration and slows reactions times.

"It can also lead to dependency if used for long periods of time.

"I have also known people who say it contributed to mental health problems. We don't know enough about the health risks to legalise it.

"Smoking it can also cause cancer and lung disease in the same way smoking tobacco can."

But Mrs Armstrong does believes a change in the law was needed.

"It brings it into line with other drugs of the same level of seriousness," she said.

Detective Inspector Andy Deegan, the man in charge of Swindon's fight against drugs, echoed her view but he stressed cannabis was still illegal.

He said: "Our priority is fighting heroin and crack, and I'm sure this will give us extra time to tackle these problems.

"Cannabis users are not what I would call problematic users. Apart from isolated incidents, they do not steal to buy the drug."

But he disputed the argument that cannabis does not lead to harder drugs.

"Nearly all the heroin addicts I have come across started off by smoking cannabis," he said.

And DI Deegan had this warning for smokers.

"It is still an offence to possess cannabis, and it is a harmful drug. We can make an arrest if someone is smoking it in public, if they are persistent offenders, or if it is causing a policing problem."

One grey area is the definition of a "small quantity".

DI Deegan said: "It is subjective, and it will be down to the individual officer to make a decision."

His views clash with those of Lisa Cook, whose shop the Festival Trading Company in Morley Street, sells a range of cannabis paraphernalia.

But Ms Cook cannot stock the one thing she really wants to sell.

"I would love to be able to sell cannabis, and I think it should be legalised," she said. "It is now completely socially acceptable to smoke it, and the taboo about it has long gone. It does not lead to harder drugs, but it is often sold by the same people who sell heroin and crack.

"If it was legalised, dealers wouldn't be able to try and get people to try harder stuff."