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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: 'Drugs better than court' warns expert
The BBC
Tuesday 19 Feb 2002 A Dutch drug expert has warned a criminal conviction for cannabis possession could cause greater harm than experimentation with the drug. Bob Keizer also said he saw no reason why Dutch-style cannabis cafes would not work in Britain. Mr Keizer, a drug policy adviser to the ministry of health, welfare and sports in the Netherlands, was speaking before a drugs conference in Liverpool on Tuesday. He said his country's liberal approach to cannabis had not led to an increase in usage. Mr Keizer said: "The harm done by a criminal record is greater than the harm caused by a few years of experimental drug use. "A situation like that in a number of other countries, where the mostly youthful users run the risk of coming into contact with the judicial system, is seen as highly undesirable in the Netherlands." Mr Keizer claimed that Dutch-style cannabis cafes had helped crack down on dealers peddling their wares in schoolyards and on the streets. Cannabis Conference: Shaping a New Agenda was staged at Liverpool's Devonshire Hotel on Tuesday. It comes as the Home Office considers proposals that could see the reclassification of cannabis as a Class C drug with possession of small amounts no longer an arrestable offence. The conference was opened by Professor John Ashton, North West Director of Public Health, who admitted to smoking cannabis once as a student in the 1960s. He welcomed recent developments saying "decent policy" came "from having a full picture - not from dogma or ideology". "The actual way we respond to cannabis may be more harmful than the drug itself - imprisoning people, expelling them from school may present more problems." The conference attracted delegates from a wide variety of fields including local government, employers' organisations and education officials. But not all members of the panel, gathered to draw up proposals for a new agenda on the use and tolerance of cannabis, necessarily agreed with moves towards more liberal laws. Health effects Brenda Fullard, Regional Tobacco Control Manager with the NHS North West Regional Office, said there were risks that tobacco consumption would increase. "Decriminalisation of cannabis will send the message out that it's basically OK to smoke tobacco and smoke cannabis. "There may be room for reducing the classification of cannabis but even so people still need to be given more information about cannabis and its health effects. "We are sending out mixed messages and need a long-term protracted and sustained national programme to education people about the risks," she added. The conference was organised by the North West Public Health Observatory, the Drug Prevention Advisory Service and the Regional Drugs Training and Information Service.
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