UK: Drugs adviser attacks Blair over cannabis review

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Sophie Goodchild and Andy McSmith

The Independent on Sunday

Sunday 20 Mar 2005

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Tony Blair was warned by one of his own drugs advisers not to turn a
rethink of the legal status of cannabis into a "political football".

The issue of the drug's legal status caused a storm this weekend after
Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, ordered the Advisory Council on the
Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to review its conclusion that high cannabis use was
not associated with health problems. Lord Victor Adebowale of Thornes, a
member of the advisory panel, said yesterday that a proposed review of the
reclassification of cannabis needed to be based on "clear, hard facts and
not conjecture".

Lord Adebowale, the chief executive of anti-addiction charity Turning
Point, added: "It is important that the independent review takes place
after the election, ensuring a decision about the legal status of cannabis
does not become just another political football."

Mr Clarke has asked the ACMD to investigate claims that certain forms of
the drug are linked to mental disorders.

Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, the ACMD chairman, has made clear that his
committee has already considered possible links with mental illness and
concluded that there is little significant evidence of a direct link. The
decision to reclassify cannabis was partly aimed at relieving pressure on
police so they could focus efforts on prosecuting class A drug dealers.

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