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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Opinion: Time to end this farce Paul Flynn MP The Mirror Monday 16 Oct 2000 Pub Date: Monday, 16 October 2000 ART: Time to end this farce Author: Paul Flynn MP TIME TO END THIS FARCE BRITISH drugs police is a tragic farce. One Chief Constable says he would not arrest someone for using cannabis recreationally. But desperately sick people are being dragged through the courts for using cannabis medicinally. Those responsible for drug policy in the two main parties must learn two lessons: ONE: Prohibition of soft drugs does not reduce use. Since the Misuse of Drugs Act here 30 years ago, heroin use has jumped 2,000% and we consume more cannabis than any other European country. TWO: Legalisation does not increase us. The Dutch use of cannabis is substantially less than ours after 25 years of decriminalisation. Their heroin deaths are a tenth of ours. By bracketing cannabis with heroin and cocaine the 'just say no message' for addictive deadly drugs is less persuasive. Jack Straw tried some cheap tabloid scare-mongering on the Today programme. He railed against cannabis as a cause of cancer. He ignored the medical evidence that cannabis risks are slight. The Government says all illegal drugs are bad and legal ones are not. It's fine to make alcohol more available while we drag desperately ill people through the courts for using cannabis medicinally. Parliament is out of touch. Cannabis is the world's oldest medicine. It has brought pain relief to millions, including Queen Victoria, and is used legally by doctors in many countries. All parties have been mutually self-congratulatory on the success of tough prohibition. Each years drug use and rugs deaths have increased. Now the gauntlet of reason is thrown down.
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