CANNABIS smokers in Oxfordshire are being warned they face a tougher crackdown from police.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that cannabis would be reclassified from a class-C drug to class-B, subject to Parliamentary approval.

County police chiefs will now review how their officers tackle cannabis users ahead of the reclassification being approved.

A user in Oxfordshire can be caught with a small amount of cannabis deemed for personal use three times before they receive a criminal conviction.

Earlier this year Oxfordshire drugs co-ordinator PC Leigh Thompson said he wanted cannabis reclassified.

He said: "The type of skunk cannabis on the street is now so strong it needs to be reclassified - and I fully support the Home Secretary. Our policies for tackling people with cannabis will now change, although we have always targeted any form of drug dealing, whether class A, B or C."

Possession of a class-B drug can lead to a five-year jail sentence, compared to just two years for a class-C drug.

Oxford West and Abingdon MP Dr Evan Harris said the Government's decision to ignore the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which wanted cannabis to remain as a class-C drug, was "absurd".

He added: "The only message this decision sends out is that Government drug classification policy is not credible and is based on macho posturing, rather than evidence of what works."