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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Let's talk about drugs Leader Evening Press, York Wednesday 03 Sep 2003 ANYONE undertaking a sober assessment of our drug and alcohol laws would conclude that they are thoroughly inconsistent. One intoxicant is championed, another condemned. The drinker is cheered, the drug-taker criminalised. So we are grateful for the intervention of Steve Clements. By standing as the Legalise Cannabis candidate at the next York elections he will at least engender a debate about an issue which mainstream politics strives to avoid. As our street survey confirmed, people are split on whether Britain should liberalise its drug laws. But the pros and cons are rarely discussed. One of the central tenets of the pro-cannabis campaign is that its effects are far less harmful than that State-sanctioned drug, alcohol. Drink and violence undoubtedly go together, as the Evening Press tonight, and almost every night, confirms. Cannabis, meanwhile, has some medicinal benefits. York Hospital is to offer the drug to surgical patients to test its pain-relieving properties. Moreover, it is clear that the use of cannabis is widespread and accepted by a significant sector of the population. Earlier this year a research firm suggested that the "cannabis economy" was worth £11 billion a year. Our present laws have criminalised countless numbers of otherwise law-abiding citizens, Mr Clements argues. The police seem to agree, and now appear to turn a blind eye to an individual's personal use of the drug. Pitted against these arguments is research linking long-term cannabis use to mental health problems including psychosis and schizophrenia. And there are fears that cannabis acts as a first step to deadly heroin. This Government, frightened of being seen as soft on the drugs trade, does not know what to do. The Home Office plans to downgrade the classification of cannabis on the one hand, and introduce tough penalties against people who allow cannabis to be smoked at parties on the other. Confusion reigns. What we need is a clear-headed, adult debate on our drugs laws. Mr Clements has made a start. More contributions are required.
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