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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Blair issues warning about cannabis use
Andrew Woodcock, PA Political Correspondent The Scotsman
Tuesday 03 May 2005 Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke today of his growing concern about the= dangers of cannabis, raising speculation that he would like to see the drug=92s controversial reclassification reversed. Speaking to a group of concerned parents during a General Election event in Lancashire, Mr Blair said there was increasing medical evidence that= cannabis is =93not quite as harmless as people make out=94. He also warned that youngsters who smoke cannabis may move on to harder= drugs. Earlier this year, Home Secretary Charles Clarke, commissioned the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs to investigate whether new medical evidence linking cannabis use to long-term mental problems had implications for the decision to downgrade it from class B to the less serious class C. Their= report is due after the May 5 election. The change =AD introduced by Mr Clarke=92s predecessor David Blunkett =AD= came into effect at the start of last year and put cannabis on the same level as some prescription anti-depressants and steroids. Possession of the drug is no= longer normally an arrestable offence. Mr Blair today met voters concerned about drugs at a community centre at Penwortham, near Preston. When challenged on the decision to reclassify cannabis, he told them: =93We= have said we will look at it again. There=92s actually been misunderstanding= about this =AD what we really say to the police is, =91Go after the hard stuff=92. =93I have thought about this a lot. I know people say cannabis is different= from hard drugs =AD and of course it is =AD but I think there is a risk that you= start with that and then get into other things. =93And also I think there is increasing evidence emerging that it isn=92t= quite as harmless as people make out. =93So I take a very strong line on it, and a particularly strong line if= there is any question of people dealing anywhere near kids and schools.=94 Mr Blair denounced Liberal Democrat drugs policy, which he said would lead= to the decriminalisation of cannabis and mean nobody caught in possession of heroin or crack cocaine would be sent to jail. =93I think that=92s just crackers as a policy,=94 he said. When asked whether he would give new guidance to police on how to deal with cannabis, Mr Blair said: =93I think the police probably know what the rules= are and the boundaries, because there=92s a lot of misconceptions about it. =93I think it=92s important we correct the misunderstandings, because= otherwise we send out mixed messages to the public, but the purpose of it originally was= to say to the police, =91Get after the hard drug dealers=92.=94 Mr Blair said a third term Labour Government would press ahead with measures= to improve drug education at schools, confiscate the assets of drug dealers and give prisoners who test positive for drugs the option of receiving= treatment. He was joined by Chancellor Gordon Brown at the event in the South Ribble constituency, where Labour MP David Borrow is defending a slim majority of 3,802. A shirt-sleeved Mr Blair clutched a mug of tea as he perched on a sofa to= take questions from users of the community centre, not all of whom were Labour supporters. He raised a laugh at the end of the meeting by appealing to them to =93get= out and vote on June 5=94, before hastily correcting himself, saying: =93May 5.= =94
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