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UK: About-turn on cannabis 'would cause confusion'
The Telegraph
Monday 09 Jan 2006 Reclassifying cannabis for the second time in under three years would cause fresh confusion, campaigners said yesterday. Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, is considering a report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on whether medical evidence linking the drug to mental disorders warrants a change of policy. Someone smoking cannabis Cannabis was reduced from a Class B to a Class C substance in 2003 It is thought that the council has not recommended reclassifying cannabis, which was reduced from a Class B to a Class C substance in 2003. However, it does believe in the need for a more robust education campaign against its use, something the Government intends to follow up. Mr Clarke, who is due to announce this month whether he will reverse the decision of his predecessor David Blunkett, said the indications that cannabis use could lead to, or worsen, schizophrenia was "very concerning". He told BBC radio: "Since that decision, further medical evidence has been developed about the implications of consumption of cannabis on mental health, which is serious." He conceded that downgrading cannabis had left people confused about the potential impact of the consumption of the drug and said it was significant that many supporters of a more liberal regime had changed their minds in the light of the new medical evidence. However, drugs campaigners urged Mr Clarke to retain the current classification, on the grounds that it reflected the relative harm of the drug compared with heroin or crack cocaine. Martin Barnes, the chief executive of DrugScope, who sits on the council, said: "There are encouraging signs that, since reclassification, the level of use has fallen among young people." Mark Oaten, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said the Government should not restore more serious penalties for cannabis unless there was "strong evidence" to back such a move. Dame Ruth Runciman, who was chairman of the Police Foundation inquiry that recommended downgrading cannabis five years ago, said the reclassification had been "very badly handled" and had created much misunderstanding. "To reclassify is as ill-judged as it can be in my view," she said. "It will add greatly to the confusion." Although the classification of cannabis was changed, the drug remains illegal and dealing in it can attract a prison term of 14 years. Users face up to two years in jail.
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