Pubdate: Tue, 12 Feb 2008
Source: New Statesman (UK)
Copyright: 2008 New Statesman
Contact:  http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1067
Author: David Matthews
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

DOPE'S POLICY?

Millions of Britons smoke cannabis occasionally, and manage to 
function. It has been part of the cultural landscape for over 40 
years, argues David Matthews

Last week the body charged with advising the government on the 
re-reclassification of cannabis from Class C back to Class B met to 
consider the latest diktat that Britain needs to get tough on soft drugs.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), an independent 
expert body that advises the government on drug related issues in the 
UK, has previously maintained that cannabis should remain a Class C drug.

But if the government gets its way and the ACMD sanctions a policy 
U-turn on its behalf nothing will change. All the evidence shows that 
tightening the law on cannabis has no effect on consumption rates. In 
fact, reclassification has led to a decrease in dope use.

Cannabis was downgraded in 2004, and for many smokers and abstainers 
alike, this looked like a liberal New Labour move, particularly when 
viewed against other very illiberal government policies aimed at 
curtailing personal freedom.

A year later, following a request from the then Home Secretary, 
Charles Clarke the Advisory Council reviewed its position on the 
classification of cannabis, examining in particular the effects of 
cannabis on mental health, and claims of increased prevalence of dope 
with high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), i.e. "skunk".

The ACMD listened to testimony from scientists to police officers and 
concluded that cannabis should remain a Class C drug. But the 
lobbyists are back on the attack.

The Association of Chief Police Officers has a simple twofold 
argument for reclassification. It says: "... a rise in cannabis 
farms, and an undercurrent in the market which suggests more harmful 
health effects," means that the dope laws need to be tweaked.

Some 2000 domestic cannabis farms have been raided in the last 12 
months, many of which are run by Southeast Asian criminal gangs. So 
much home grown skunk is now being produced that Britain is on the 
brink of becoming a net exporter of dope.

The police want to send out clear message: Britain is not in the 
business of cultivating marijuana. But coming on the back of changes 
to stop and search policy, reclassification will make it easier for 
the police to "profile" and search youths. All of a sudden, finding a 
couple of spliffs in a kid's back pocket will be the end that 
justifies the means.

As for Jacqui Smith, she knows which way the wind is blowing. She is 
the fourth Home Secretary to oversee the reclassification issue in as 
many years.

Since reclassification there has been an increasing focus on feral 
youths, teenage delinquency and juvenile violence. Add to this 
growing youth unemployment, teen pregnancies and of course drug and 
alcohol abuse and Ms Smith must react. Something must be to blame. 
And that something is drugs.

In her letter of July 2007 to the ACMD, in which she invited them to 
carry out this latest dope study, Ms Smith admitted, "... statistics 
show that cannabis use has fallen significantly". But she added the 
caveat, "... there is a real public concern about the potential 
mental health effects of cannabis use, in particular the use of 
stronger forms of the drug, commonly known as skunk".

Is there really public concern about the use of dope; or is it 
concern about the social factors that nurture dope smoking? For a 
government struggling to come to terms with the causes of drug abuse, 
it is much easier, in PR terms at least to concentrate on effect.

On the mental health issue both Ms Smith and the police have a point. 
More and more health and counselling agencies are seeing young people 
presenting with mental health problems that stem from chronic dope 
smoking. Some research suggests that up to 75 per cent of 
drug-induced mental health problems relate to cannabis use.

But the government's flip flopping over cannabis classification, like 
that with stop and search, is doomed to failure.

It is the frequency and amount of dope smoked that is the issue. As 
Morgan Spurlock illustrated in Super Size Me, living on Big Macs is 
not conducive to healthy living.

The overuse and abuse of weed by often unemployed, idle, bored, 
poorly educated and despondent youths, who spend every waking hour 
getting wasted has tightened the relationship between dope and mental 
health issues.

The fact that skunk is relatively cheap and is often used in 
combination with other drugs or cheap alcohol, and is a useful 
commodity for teenagers to trade (whether as career criminals or 
part-time dope dealers to supplement their meagre wages or benefits) 
has also made dope the drug of choice for Britain's youth.

Millions of Britons smoke dope occasionally, and manage to function. 
It has been part of the cultural landscape for more than 40 years. 
Those that make it their vice will always find the ways and means to 
smoke, and evade the law.

Instead of tinkering with classification, the government should think 
more creatively about how it can give a growing number of feckless 
youths something meaningful to do with their lives rather than get 
wasted day in day out.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake