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Miracle Crop Or Poison?
D Lewins The Bath Chronicle
Friday 10 Dec 2004 Is cannabis an environment-saving miracle crop or something much more sinister wrapped in the disguise as a harmless substance. In the fifth instalment of our Dealing With Drugs series, David Lewins looks at the arguments surrounding the legalisation of cannabis When cannabis was downgraded from a Class B to a Class C drug earlier this year it was heralded by some as the first step towards legalisation. But before the year's end, bans are being put in place to stop smoking in public places. It would appear there has never been a worse time to get pot legalised by the nanny-state. For campaigner Chris Jones, keeping cannabis illegal is nothing short of madness. He believes cannabis is a miracle crop, with the potential to save the planet and transform wasteland into verdant forests. "Momentum isn't stopping," said Mr Jones. "The law has to change." But it appears the law really isn't getting in his way too much. "There's not a day in my life that I haven't smoked cannabis in the past 20 years," he said. This raises the question of addiction. Cannabis itself is not physical addictive, although the tobacco it is smoked with is, and psychological dependency occurs in about ten per cent of users. Mr Jones said he would be perfectly capable of stopping if he wanted, adding it had never done him any harm. Campaigners such as Mr Jones decry the hypocrisy of keeping cannabis illegal, while alcohol and tobacco enjoy legal status, despite being potentially more harmful. Conversely, campaigners against legalisation argue cannabis is frequently smoked with tobacco, so the same problems with cigarettes would be replicated. "You don't have to smoke it," Mr Jones counters. "You can eat it, get it a cream to rub into your skin, or there are vaporisers." The vaporiser allows the pot to be inhaled without the carcinogens associated in tobacco, said Mr Jones, who lives in Bath city centre. But the argument to legalise extends beyond trading off vices with booze and cigarettes. The first argument is medical. Mr Jones said there was a long list of illnesses which can be treated with pot, including multiple sclerosis and arthritis. "I have a friend who has MS and can't stand up because of it," said the 37-year-old. "But she can if she's had a joint." His second argument is environmental. Hemp is entirely biodegradable and can be used as a substitute for plastic. Hemp oil is also a fuel alternative. "Cannabis is the fastest growing plant on the planet and will grow anywhere," he said. "It is an entirely renewable energy source, which is cleaner than burning fossil fuels." Mr Jones' third argument is social. Legalisation would bring an industry which could be strictly supervised. The campaigner envisages coffee houses being given strictly limited supplies, with fines for any supplier that exceeded a daily limit - similar to the system in Amsterdam. A regulated industry would generate revenue, he argues, and ensure quality in the product, which does not happen when the industry happens outside the law. Furthermore, the pushers who might get the cannabis users to try harder substances would be cut out of the equation. Finally, Mr Jones firmly believes legalisation will win through because it has extensive popular support. "By keeping it illegal the Government is creating criminals. If it were legalised it would give the police the time to catch real criminals," he said. Although these aren't the exact words the Liberal Democrats would use, it has a lot in common with the party line on pot. It steers closer to the middle of the road, calling for decriminalisation of cannabis, but not legalisation. "Legalisation suggests it is all right to use cannabis," said Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster. "Through decriminalisation what we are saying is that we do not approve, but it is an offence for the civil courts. "It is not something people should get a criminal record or a prison sentence for. "This would give the police time to concentrate on the hard drugs and the dealers." For this reason, Mr Foster still backs criminal prosecution for large suppliers of cannabis, but not the people who are in possession of a small amount for personal use. Drugs advice and support agencies refuse to take political stances on the issue out of necessity to preserve their independence. However some are quick to point out that cannabis is not harmless. Rethink, the severe mental illness charity, held a conference last week to debate the evidence which suggests cannabis is linked to mental health problems. The charity criticised reclassification for sending out a confusing message. Its chief executive Cliff Prior said the number of people who used drugs and had mental health problems had risen by more than 60 per cent in the past five years. "Reclassification has sent out a confusing message," said Mr Prior. "There is a strongly-held view that cannabis is risk-free, reflected in the rates of its use among young people. It is not. "We know that using cannabis makes the symptoms of schizophrenia far worse in people who already have the illness." One organisation actively arguing against legalisation is the Christian campaigning group the Maranatha Community. It argues the levels of cancer-causing chemicals, such as benzpyrene, are higher in cannabis than tobacco, and smoking cannabis causes damage to the lungs and increases the chance of having a heart attack. Dennis Wrigley, leader of the Maranatha Community, said: "The argument of the libertarians is that people have the right to harm themselves - they ignore the immense social burden which this inevitably creates. "The decision of the Home Secretary to reclassify cannabis is now seen to be a major error. "It is now established beyond doubt that cannabis is in fact a 'gateway' drug, leading young people into the use of a wider range of substances. "The message has clearly been given to young people that cannabis is comparatively harmless, whereas the truth is the reverse. "If we fail to take urgent action now, we will be overtaken by an avalanche of drug-related crime, a dangerously overloaded Health Service, and hundreds of thousands of wrecked lives."
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