Pubdate: Sun, 27 Mar 2005
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2005 The Observer
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315
Author: Anushka Asthana, The Observer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

CANNABIS IS LOSING ITS COOL FOR THE YOUNG

Class C Status Helps Drug Slip Out Of Fashion

The long smoke could be over. Cannabis has started to lose its
fashionable lustre among young people, with Britain seeing the
smallest increase in regular use in a decade.

Contrary to claims that there has been an explosion in use since the
government downgraded the classification of cannabis from Class B to
Class C in January 2004, a new study has found that the increase in
regular use fell to just 0.5 per cent in 2004, compared with 45 per
cent at its peak in 1998. At the same time, the drug's image has
slumped from the high days of the Nineties to a historic low.

'Our first indications are that [the change in the law] has
essentially had no effect at all in user levels of cannabis,' says
Matthew Atha, director of the Independent Drugs Monitoring Unit, which
carried out the study.

The research asked 2,056 respondents to give cannabis a 'user-rating'
out of 10, based on factors such as perceived addictive potential, the
health risks and the high they got. The higher the user rating, the
more glamorous the drug. Cannabis has slipped from a peak of 8.8 in
1997 to a low of 7.6 last year, while in the same period ecstasy,
crack and heroin ratings have all risen.

'When the user rating falls it is like a drug is going out of
fashion,' said Atha. 'It is also a good indicator of intention to use
and whether someone is likely to become a regular user.'

The 10-year survey shows that after the government began talking about
reclassification in 2001, the user rating of cannabis fell below eight
for the first time.

Steve Rolles, of the drugs policy think tank Transform, says: 'This
research backs up numerous other studies that show how drug policy and
levels of enforcement have, at best, a marginal impact on levels of
use. The recent fuss over reclassification is all about election
politics and drug war posturing. It's nothing to do with the science,
which is well researched and well understood.'

But some experts warn that it is too early properly to understand the
impact of the reclassification. 'It is dangerous to try and assess
overall trends in a 12-month period,' says Mike Trace, who was the
government's deputy drugs tsar between 1997 and 2002. 'But one of the
fears of reclassification was that there would be a sudden leap in
use, and this shows that has not happened.'

The study follows Home Secretary Charles Clarke's call for the Misuse
Of Drugs Advisory Board to review the reclassification after new
studies highlighted the link between cannabis use among teenagers and
mental health problems. But one of the authors of the Dutch study
Clarke referred to told the Today programme on Radio 4 last week that
the results should not be used to argue against legalisation. Dr Lydia
Krabbendam of Maastricht University, whose study showed that
adolescents who use cannabis regularly over a four-year period were
twice as likely to develop psychosis, said: 'I don't think the effects
of cannabis can be used as an argument not to legalise it. It is
probably very hard to ban it altogether, and if you legalise it you
can regulate the amounts of THC [the active ingredient within cannabis]'.

Meanwhile, a survey released today shows that teenagers place illegal
drugs at the bottom of the list of ways to get high. The study by the
government drugs awareness campaign, Frank, shows that more than one
in four 11- to 19-year-olds get their 'best buzz' from winning at
their favourite sport. Only three per cent said that drugs gave them
the best high.
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