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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Burning Issue
The Scotsman Tuesday 10 Jun 2008 Is the time now right to legalise cannabis to tackle Scotland's drug problem? YES IAN HISLOP: Drugs worker based in Aberdeen THERE can be little doubt among those with an informed and open mind that cannabis use is remarkably unproblematic compared with many other drugs. With this in mind, I would suggest one of the principles of civilised, democratic society is that people should be free to take acceptable risks (mountain climbing, bungee jumping, boxing etc) provided that it doesn't harm anyone else. The current laws tend to criminalise thousands of ordinary law-abiding citizens and take up valuable police manpower, court time and millions of pounds that I suggest would be better targeted at tackling serious crime against people and property. Of every ten recorded cannabis offences, nine involve simple possession of cannabis. This puts a new slant on the maxim "possession is nine-tenths of the law". The amount of money spent by the regular user, around £20 per week, is unlikely to initiate crime itself. A growing number of senior police officers, judges, lawyers and doctors see legalisation of soft drugs as the only way to tackle both drug use and associated crime. I would suggest that cannabis use should be an issue of social and health education, similar to alcohol and cigarettes. In 1992, a petition was handed to the Home Secretary asking the government to recognise that the overwhelming weight of evidence demonstrates that the prohibition of cannabis has indeed promoted criminality, conflict and more harm to the individual and society than it's use ever has. It is governed by a law which has proven immoral in principle and unworkable in practice. NO BILL AITKEN: Scottish Tories' justice spokesman SOME years ago, the then social inclusion committee in the parliament carried out a full inquiry on the impact upon Scotland's poorer communities of drug abuse. What came out clearly was the way in which cannabis is not only damaging to users but is also a gateway drug, causing many to begin using even more harmful substances such as heroin. Essentially, what the Futures Forum is suggesting is legalisation. Taxing and regulating the drug will certainly not discourage its use. More are likely to be tempted to try cannabis if it is legal and those who want stronger and cheaper forms will continue to flout the law. Cannabis is now a far more potent and far more dangerous drug than it was. I accept there is a case worth examining for some medicinal use, but there is no reasonable case for wholesale legalisation. The attitude displayed in this report is what we might have seen in Haight-Ashbury in the 60s, but some 40 years down the road the dangers of cannabis use are widely accepted. Just because the harm reduction and management strategy of the past decade has failed is not a reason to try more of the same failed medicine. A new approach, based on recovery leading to abstinence, was desperately needed. So for drug abusers and their families, last week's parliamentary debate and the new national drugs strategy must have been deeply encouraging. The approach to dealing with this massive problem has been deeply flawed, but at last there are proposals to move matters forward. What we need is to advance with determination and vision and to reject absolutely the outdated and negative views expressed in the Futures Forum Report. http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Burning-Issue.4167372.jp
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