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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis Jane Perrone and agencies The Guardian Wednesday 10 Jul 2002 David Blunkett has announced his intention to downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C drug, alongside tranquilisers. Jane Perrone provides some background What is cannabis? The cannabis sativa, or hemp, plant is a hardy plant native to central Asia that grows all over the world and has been in use for thousands of years. What other names does cannabis go by? Indian hemp, marijuana, pot, weed, hash, ganja, dope, gear, blow, spliff, hooch and skunk, among others. The word "marijuana" is Mexican slang and became widely used in the US from the 1930s - cannabis used to be smoked by Mexican soldiers for medicinal purposes. How many cannabis users are there? Home Office figures suggest that there are 3.1 million occasional smokers of cannabis in Britain - cannabis smokers spend an average of £498 a year on the drug. What about teenagers? The charity Drugscope has found that between 30% and 40% of 15 and 16-year-olds report having used cannabis. What is the law on cannabis? Britain has the toughest drug laws in Europe. The Misuse of Drugs Act (1971) divides drugs into three categories (A-C) depending on how dangerous they were perceived to be at that time. Cannabis resin is currently a class B drug, meaning the maximum penalty for possession is five years. However, the home secretary looks set to reclassify it as a class C drug, joining tranquilisers and anabolic steroids. The maximum sentence for possession of a class C drug is two years. What is cannabis's effect on the body? When the plant's dried leaves are smoked, their active ingredient, tetrahydrocannibol (THC), can induce a mildly euphoric state in the user. The most highly prized part of the plant is its flowering tops because they have the highest THC content. Users can also smoke crumbled resinous bits from pressed blocks of leaves. Does cannabis offer any health benefits? Many doctors say cannabis can be beneficial in relieving pain during menstruation and childbirth, the nausea of chemotherapy, the spasms of multiple sclerosis and that it helps to control seizures in epilepsy. Glaucoma sufferers also testify that it can lower the pressure within the eye, so preventing the onset of blindness, and there is some evidence that it can improve night vision. Does cannabis cause any health problems? This is a subject of much debate and conflicting evidence. Cannabis campaigners argue that the drug is less dangerous than legal substances such as alcohol and cigarettes. An official report from the advisory council on the misuse of drugs commissioned by David Blunkett seems to back them up. It found that use of cannabis was not associated with severe health problems. However, the report also said that "the jury is still out on whether chronic use can lead to mental illness." Those who oppose legalisation say that there are significant health risks associated with using cannabis. They also argue that cannabis can act as a "gateway" to more harmful drugs such as heroin. The British Lung Foundation, which is reviewing the published medical and scientific evidence on the impact of smoking cannabis on lung health, says its findings - due to be published later this year - are likely to show an increased risk of respiratory cancers and infections among cannabis smokers. The government's drugs information website, trashed, says cannabis can cause temporary psychological distress, apathy and lethargy, and can impair short term memory and manual skills.
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