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UK: Has the law on cannabis just become clouded?
Cambridge Evening News
Friday 24 Feb 2006 TWO teenagers who dealt cannabis to scores of students in Cambridge escaped custody this week. Although magistrates had the option of locking them up for two years, the teenagers - who prosecutors claimed were making £1,000 a day dealing to students at Long Road Sixth Form College - escaped with community punishment orders and a spell of unpaid work. The sentences were a reminder of how authorities now treat cannabis, mirroring the stance of the Government which downgraded the drug from Class B to Class C in 2004. But according to a drugs expert in Cambridge, who helps pick up the pieces when drugs take their toll, underestimating the risks attached to cannabis is a dangerous mistake. Brendan Morrell, manager of The Bridge Project, a drugs information and treatment service based in Mill Road, Romsey, said he had seen clear evidence the drug can affect people's mental health. He said: "Certain people using it in certain situations may have extremely scary experiences. For those people who have a family history of mental illness it will not complement that. "I would not go along with people who say it is a benign substance. It is a mind-altering drug and there is no such thing as a benign mind-altering substance. "We see a considerable number of young people here whose lives are being marked by cannabis use. It is negatively impacting on their education and their intellectual health. "And it is skunk that can have a much worse effect on people's mental health - that's the stuff to watch out for." Skunk is the street name for a particularly strong hybrid of the cannabis plant, which has been linked to mental health problems in numerous studies. Vicky Crompton, team co-ordinator at The Bridge Project, said: "Other substances are worse, but that doesn't mean it is harmless." Since cannabis was downgraded, mental health groups have campaigned to try and force a u-turn. But although Home Secretary Charles Clarke has admitted the drug can trigger serious mental illness, he has refused to reverse the re-classification, pledging instead to launch a publicity drive to warn people of the health risks. He said: "Everyone needs to understand cannabis is harmful and it is illegal. Our education and health campaigns will clearly transmit that message."
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