cannabisnews.com: 'Softly, Softly' Drugs Experiment Ends










  'Softly, Softly' Drugs Experiment Ends

Posted by CN Staff on July 31, 2002 at 13:27:12 PT
Cannabis scheme was designed to free police  
Source: BBC News  

The controversial experiment in the south London borough of Lambeth which saw a "softly, softly" approach to the possession of cannabis ends at midnight Wednesday. Police say from Thursday 1 August people openly smoking the drug in public face arrest. Scotland Yard says the experiment has been successful with officers' time being freed to concentrate on the fight against hard drugs. But critics say it has led to more users and dealers being drawn into Lambeth from other boroughs. 
'Aggravating circumstances'  For the past year, Lambeth police have been employing a policy of seizing cannabis and issuing formal warnings to people found in possession of small amounts of it for personal use. That will continue but police are warning that cannabis is still illegal and people will be arrested if there are "aggravating circumstances" - in line with national policy. It has been argued that there has been public confusion over drugs policy following Home Secretary David Blunkett's announcement that cannabis will be reclassified from Class B to Class C. Aggravating circumstances:  * public disorder * openly smoking cannabis in public * person under 17 caught in possession More than 1,000 people have been warned for possession since the scheme began last July. Of those, 52.7% were from outside the borough, a similar proportion to those caught in possession before the pilot, suggesting people were not flooding into the area to buy drugs, said police. The change coincides with a survey which suggests more than half of British adult voters do not support the relaxation of penalties for cannabis possession. A Guardian/ICM poll found only 38% approved of the policy. But there was a clear age divide, with 54% of those aged 18 to 35 and 55% of 25 to 30-year-olds saying they approved of the change. The majority (54%) of people aged 35 to 64 disapproved, with 76% of the over 65s also opposed.  Source: BBC News (UK Web) Published: Wednesday, July 31, 2002Copyright: 2002 BBC Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/ Contact: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/Related Articles: Cannabis Relaxation Opposed by Majority http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13585.shtmlYoung See Law Change as Green Light for Cannabishttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13584.shtmlMet Ends Lambeth Cannabis Schemehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13558.shtml

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Comment #6 posted by FoM on July 31, 2002 at 17:48:00 PT

That's Right Mayan
The young get stronger. It's good to see young people fighting for their rights because this isn't about drugs or Cannabis it's about freedom. 
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Comment #5 posted by mayan on July 31, 2002 at 17:33:34 PT

 The Young Get Stronger...
A Guardian/ICM poll found only 38% approved of the policy. But there was a clear age divide, with 54% of those aged 18 to 35 and 55% of 25 to 30-year-olds saying they approved of the change. The majority (54%) of people aged 35 to 64 disapproved, with 76% of the over 65s also opposed.Every day our numbers grow. Time is on our side. Jim Morrison said it best - Five to one, baby, one in five,
 
no one here gets out alive, now.
 
You get yours, baby, I'll get mine,
                          
gonna make it, baby, if we try.
 
The old get old and the    young get stronger,
                 
may take a week and it    may take longer.
                 
They got the guns but    we got the numbers.
 
Gonna win, yeah, we're takin' over, come on.              - The Doors, "Five to One"unrelated -Connecting The Dots: Insider Trading And 911 
Profits Of Death Part Three - The Mother Of All Enrons:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/archive/scoop/stories/a6/31/200207311041.cd7fb1f2.htmlNew Radio Ad Criticizes Cheney for Selling Equipment to Iraq
While CEO at Halliburton: Listen to the ad!
http://www.gwbush.com/spots/written transcript of ad -
http://www.gwbush.com/spots/trans.shtml20 Things We've Learned Nearly a Year After 9/11:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/08.01D.bw.20.htm
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Comment #4 posted by p4me on July 31, 2002 at 16:27:13 PT

A study of cannabinoids
This is copied from the Hempcity/DE messageboards and has no link of origin mentioned: http://212.129.240.114/upload/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3649Painful Memories.Cannabis-like chemicals in the brain play a key role in erasing nasty memories, a study has found. 
Researchers in Germany have found that cannabinoids, produced naturally in the brain, help to manage fear. They believe that a lack of these chemicals may explain why some people have difficulty forgetting painful events and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or phobias. The researchers suggest that new drugs to increase the production of cannibanoids in the brain could help these patients to forget their painful memories. Doctors at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich made their discovery in laboratory tests. Mutated mice They bred two groups of mice. The first was engineered to produce more cannabinoids while the second was engineered to produce fewer of these chemicals. They then subjected the mice to a series of tests. These involved a loud tone followed by a light electric shock to the foot. They found that mice which produced fewer cannabinoids froze when they heard the tone, anticipating an electric shock. The mice which produced more cannabinoids appeared to forget to associate the tone with the electric shock and didn't freeze. The authors suggested their findings showed that cannabinoids played a key role in erasing painful memories. They added that their results could one day be used to develop new treatments for people who have difficulty forgetting painful events. These include patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias or anxiety disorders. Writing in the journal Nature, they said: "Overall our findings suggest that the endogenous cannabinoid system could represent a therapeutic target for the treatment of diseases associated with inappropriate retention of aversive memories or inadequate responses to aversive situations such as post-traumatic stress disorders, phobias, and certain forms of chronic pain." However, they warned that cannabis itself would not have the same effect because it overflows the brain and is not specific enough to extinguish the unpleasant memory. Dr Pankaj Sah, a neuroscientist at the Australian National University in Canberra, welcomed the study. In an accompanying article in Nature, he said: "The finding might have implications for treating anxiety disorders in humans." He added that the study may explain why some people with mental illness turn to cannabis. "It may be a form of self medication for the sometimes extreme anxiety that these people experience," he said.1,2
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Comment #3 posted by DigitalFeonix on July 31, 2002 at 15:13:26 PT

p4me
you noticed how he said "federal prison", that means the city, county and states prisons are still not counted.also that argument always comes up after the arrest numbers. the antis are trying to discredit the numbers by equating arrests w/ (federal) prison time
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Comment #2 posted by p4me on July 31, 2002 at 14:01:13 PT

Sime thoughts
I keep thinking about McCaffrey saying only people with 200 kilos of pot are in federal prison and insinuating that people do not go to jail for possession. My friend spent a day in court two weeks ago waiting for his trial that cost him $550 for a lawyer and now Ford Credit is calling about his late truck payment. But in his day of court he said he saw several people charged with possession on .5 oz- 1.5 oz of MJ get sent to jail for 120 days.I think I will go down to the courthouse tomorrow and find out for myself some details.One thing is for sure, you will not find anything about the 2001 Uniform Crime Report at fbi.gov. A search for "Uniform Crime Report"- http://www.fbi.gov/search?NS-search -page=results - will yeild 12 results. The first 6 months of 2001 is one of those 12 and says crime is down 2% although the preliminary UFC for 2001 that can no longer be found at fbi.gov said it went up. The last 6 months of 2001 must have really seen a lot of crime although you can believe with some degree of confidence the 6 month report for the last half of 2001 will not appear by itself like the first 6 month report.What the hell are these BAHstards doing besides eating doughnuts and drinking taxpayer coffee? Where is the public's information? Someone should be fired for this denial of public information in a time of instant communications? They have had 7 months to add the 2nd half figures. It is almost like they are hiding stuff from us. It is like that because that is the reality of our situation.Fire your Congressmen.1,2

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Comment #1 posted by TroutMask on July 31, 2002 at 13:33:12 PT

Oh No!
Aggravating circumstances: 
* public disorder 
* openly smoking cannabis in public 
* person under 17 caught in possession I can deal with that! Sounds like the basic rules behind alcohol, no? I think a better title would use "modifies" instead of "ends". They still aren't busting adults in possession!
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