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UK: Experts recommend "downgrading" cannabis

Surgery Door

Friday 15 Mar 2002

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Government medical advisers have recommended that cannabis be reclassified
as a class C drug because it is less harmful than other substances it is
currently bracketed with.

Last October, Home Secretary David Blunkett told a House of Commons
committee that he was "minded" to re-classify cannabis pending a report
from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).

In its report to the home secretary, the ACMD said that current
classification of cannabis as a class B drug was "disproportionate" to its
inherent harmfulness and to the harmfulness of other class B substances
such as amphetamines.

However, the ACMD report adds that cannabis is harmful and urges ministers
to ensure that the dangers associated with its use are widely known. ACMD
chair, Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, said, "In recommending that cannabis
should be reclassified, the council is not saying it is harmless.

Cannabis is associated with some risks to health, but the council concludes
that these are less than the risks posed by other class B drugs such as
amphetamine."

The report notes that, although occasional cannabis use usually poses no
significant health risk to healthy individuals, it can pose significant
dangers to people with heart disorders or mental health problems.

Regular use can result in dependence, the report says, but cannabis's
potential for dependence is less than that of other class B drugs. The
committee was unable to conclude whether cannabis predisposes a user to
dependence on class A drugs, such as heroin or crack cocaine, but it said
any risk would be small, and less even than that associated with tobacco or
alcohol use.

Speaking yesterday (14/03/02), Home Office Minister Bob Ainsworth said,
"The ACMD advice will form a part of the evidence to be taken into account
as we consider the proposed reclassification of cannabis, together with the
evaluation of the Lambeth policing pilot and the Home Affairs Select
Committee inquiry into the Drugs Strategy."

Reclassification as class C would not decriminalise cannabis but police
would have no powers to arrest users. Other substances in class C include
anabolic steroids, benzodiazepines and growth hormones.

 

 

 

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