cannabisnews.com: Stay Cool on Cannabis Stay Cool on Cannabis Posted by CN Staff on January 23, 2004 at 23:05:00 PT Leader Source: Guardian Unlimited UK Michael Howard signalled his wish this week to divert a wide swathe of police officers from serious offences to the trivial; to wage war on 50% of young people; and to ensure that tens of thousands of them should be given a criminal record, and some a prison sentence, for an activity that more than two million of them engage in quite safely during the year. He did not quite put it this way. Indeed, with his usual eager eye for an opportunistic response to a policy change, he clearly thought he was on to another populist winner. He pledged that a future Conservative government would reverse the new drugs policy that starts next week, under which cannabis is made a less serious offence. The pronouncement came as rumblings against the change, that was debated at length and passed into law only last year, continued to roll. Mr Howard ought to have been more circumspect. His opposition to the change will not be as popular as he believes. Opinion polls have shown widespread public support: 60% believing cannabis should no longer be treated as a criminal offence; and 99% placing arrests for cannabis possession in the lowest police priority. The policy change still leaves use of the drug as an offence, but downgrades the drug from B to C, the lowest category, making it a non arrestable offence for over-18s, that will normally be dealt with by an informal warning. There are two ways to make drugs policy. The first is to follow political instincts as Mr Howard did this week. The second is to allow experts - medics, pharmacologists, treatment specialists - to place drugs into the three categories of harmfulness that the Misuse of Drugs Act of 1971 set out. This is the road which, to his credit, the home secretary is following. The proposal to downgrade cannabis was not some whim of David Blunkett's, but the recommendation of an independent commission in 2000. They rightly concluded that the decision to place cannabis in the middle category of harmfulness 30 years ago did not reflect current scientific, medical or sociological findings. They did not say it was risk free. There is a danger with all drugs. But they concluded: "When cannabis is systematically compared with other drugs against the main criteria of harm (mortality, morbidity, toxicity, addictiveness and relationship with crime), it is less harmful to the individual and society than any of the other major illicit drugs, or than alcohol and tobacco." The policing of the old law - 300,000 stop and searches a year - has done far more harm than the drug. Related Article: 'Drugs Damage Political Health' The government is seen to have made a hash of the change in classification. Daily Mail Editorial, January 23 "A week before cannabis is downgraded to a class C drug, Michael Howard's description of this unfolding muddle as 'absurd' seems the gentlest of understatements. Is it now permissible to light up a spliff? Predictably, millions are convinced that it is. So having muddied the waters in the first place, the Home Office spends £1m telling users that they still face arrest ... But at the same time, the Association of Chief Police Officers says there will be a 'presumption against arrest'... "So how did the government end up in a morass of contradictions?... The home secretary, David Blunkett ... is right to argue it is more important for police to concentrate on pushers of class A substances such as heroin ... The trouble is, his scheme arguably makes policing harder. Until recently, having class C substances was a non-arrestable offence, so downgrading cannabis would have saved police time. But then he changed the rules. Anyone with such drugs can now be arrested. We are left with a dog's breakfast." Daily Mirror Editorial, January 23 "On the day new figures showed shocking rises in gun crime and violence, the Tories announced they thought it wrong to ease the law on cannabis ... Mr Howard's announcement that a Tory government would make it a serious offence to possess cannabis is out-of-touch and stupid ... "But this government's reclassification of cannabis is not a substitute for a real drugs policy ... The truth is that all drugs can have unpleasant and sometimes dangerous side effects - and that includes cannabis ... [But] the country needs bold, brave and far-sighted leadership to deal with drugs and crime. And it isn't getting it." Simon Jenkins Times, January 23 "Warning. Drugs can seriously damage your political health ... Nothing better illustrates this syndrome than [the] row over the reclassification of cannabis ... Mr Blunkett ... has finally decided to reclassify cannabis, yet has achieved almost nothing ... [He] has the worst of both worlds. People think he has gone soft on cannabis when he has not ... The drugs economy is the single biggest handicap to social cohesion in Britain ..."Most European states have more successful drug policies than Britain ... All are experimenting with solutions that wholly elude Britain ... Tony Blair's radicalism is a sham ... All drugs ... must be removed from criminal distribution and their sale controlled and taxed like nicotine and alcohol. Such a proposal is not ideal, merely vital ... Until then this hugely profitable market will continue to boom. No amount of posturing, law-making or reclassification will make the slightest difference." Sun Editorial, January 23 "With the best of intentions and for the best of reasons, the government has got itself - and the country - into a right mess ... [The home secretary] has put over the wrong message to the public ... Mr Blunkett admits that downgrading cannabis is an experiment that might not work ... We hope he'll be big enough to do an about-turn if it all goes to pot." Johann Hari Independent, January 23 "Sadly, the government ... [has] chosen a mushy third way between legalisation and prohibition ... Yet, the thrust of the criticisms [has been] that the new law is sending out a 'mixed message' to teenagers ... Come on ... I have never met a teenager who looked to the government for moral guidance ... And anyway, the premise behind the 'messages' argument is flawed. Drinking vodka is legal. Is the government sending out a message that teenagers should swig a bottle or two on their way to school? ... "The idea that the day after legalisation, Britain would collectively drop out and disappear in a haze of skunk smoke is [also] absurd ... There might be a small increase in use ... But it has to be weighed against the major downsides of prohibition: the criminal gangs, the mockery of the law, the vast waste of police resources... and the devastation of the countries that supply our drugs but cannot tax their major export. Wouldn't admitting this be better than retreating into stale propaganda about how cannabis will turn Britain into a vast lunatic asylum?" Alice Thomson Daily Telegraph, January 23 "Why not legalise cannabis?... One in four 15 to 24-year-olds smoked it in 2002, according to the British Crime Survey. You don't see thousands of zombified teenagers on the streets. But the evidence on health risks is mounting ... Yale Medical School, after an extensive study, showed that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in cannabis, can produce a psychotic reaction ... Professor Robin Murray, head of psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, has said that cannabis users are seven times more likely to develop mental illness ... "In Sweden, where the government toughened its line towards cannabis - after deciding that it carried more mental health risks than heroin abuse - drug deaths have dropped for the first time since 1990. Cannabis has muddled minds at Westminster ... Meanwhile the people who suffer most - the addicts and their families - are paying for this government's delusions." Special Report: Drugs in Britain: http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/0,2759,178206,00.htmlSource: Guardian Unlimited, The (UK) Published: Saturday, January 24, 2004Copyright: 2004 Guardian Newspapers LimitedContact: letters guardian.co.ukWebsite: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Related Articles & Web Site:Drugs Uncovered: Observer Special http://freedomtoexhale.com/dc.htmWe Will Reverse Absurd Reform of Cannabis Lawhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18193.shtmlEnd The Confusion Over Cannabis http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18159.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by WolfgangWylde on January 24, 2004 at 09:47:50 PT It's been made... ...clear by the UK police that they will ignore the new classification, and continue arresting users to the max. Sadly, I think only a violent episode or two (think Stonewall) will change things for real. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Patrick on January 24, 2004 at 09:21:16 PT Next time you hear them say… …it sends the wrong message, ask em if this is the message they want to send instead….Drinking vodka is legal. Is the government sending out a message that teenagers should swig a bottle or two on their way to school? ... [ Post Comment ] Post Comment