SOUTH Lakeland's leading policeman has said the force will not sensationalise the harmful effects of cannabis to youngsters.

Area commander Supt Garry Horlacher told a public meeting that officers had a duty not to overstate the dangers of the drug, which was recently downgraded from Class B to Class C.

Supt Horlacher, who oversees policing in South Lakeland and Furness, said: "We won't tell youngsters how harmful cannabis is because we all know it isn't."

But the audience at Kendal's Hallgarth Community Centre was assured that experimentation with the illegal substance could not be promoted.

"It's what it (cannabis) leads on to that we are concerned with," said Supt Horlacher.

The meeting of the Kendal Police Community Liaison Forum heard from detectives working to crack the drugs problem.

Comparing Kendal with Furness, Det Con Raz Nazir said: "Barrow has an open drugs market where if you go out on the street and they don't know you and you want drugs, they will get you them. In Kendal, it's more of a closed market unless they know you, they are not going to sell you any. It makes it harder for us because they only sell to people they know.

"But I wouldn't want to alarm people that there's a big drugs problem here. The drugs problem is quite big in Barrow; in Kendal, it's slightly smaller. In Kendal, if we found seven grams of heroin, that would be a lot, whereas in Barrow it would be quite small."

The meeting was told that since April 2003, 119 people had been prosecuted throughout the South Cumbria police division area for supply or possession of drugs.

A total of £21,000 worth of heroin had been recovered and £6,000 worth of crack cocaine.

DC Nazir said 94 of the convictions related to Class A drugs the type specifically aimed at by the police's area targeting unit, formerly the drugs squad, because of the problems they could cause in communities.

She said: "We are getting somewhere with it and hopefully, we are making a difference. Some people might think the amounts we have recovered don't sound a lot, but heroin is sold in £10 deals, and it's £25 deals in crack cocaine in Kendal and the Barrow area."