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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Editorial: Welcome move on cannabis
The Scotsman
Tuesday 23 Oct 2001 WHEN, earlier this year, the former Conservative deputy leader, Peter Lilley, became the highest-ranking British politician to call for the decriminalisation of cannabis, a knee-jerk response from Downing Street insisted that government policy would remain unchanged because cannabis was "dangerous" and caused "medical problems, cancer, hallucinations ..." However, even then, the ground was shifting under the government's feet. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, had already suggested that cannabis be re-categorised from a class "B" to a class "C" drug. Yesterday, the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, announced he was proposing to do just that. Additionally, the licensing of cannabis derivatives for medical use will get government backing if current trials prove successful. Cannabis possession will remain a criminal offence, but when caught with cannabis for personal use, people will probably receive a warning or a caution. These moves are to be welcomed. Firstly and sensibly, they allow the police to concentrate their resources on dangerous class "A" drugs such as crack-cocaine. Secondly, they begin to remove a huge hypocrisy that lies at the heart of the public anti-drugs policy. Namely, the fact that politicians have insisted in treating cannabis on virtually the same level as hard drugs despite the fact that a significant proportion of the general public has used cannabis without noticeable harm. This has meant that much of the public, and young people in particular, have been inclined to dismiss much anti-drugs policy as political posturing. The third, and by no means least, advantage of Mr Blunkett's reforms is that it may be possible finally to have an open and rational debate about the subject without MPs and MSPs feeling they will be pilloried in the tabloids as soft on drugs. This debate is long overdue, not least because there remain contradictions even in Mr Blunkett's modest reforms. A benign acquiescence in the personal use of cannabis hardly sits well with the fact that it can only be obtained from illegal sources. Perhaps now might be the time for a Royal Commission or similar device finally to clear the political air.
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