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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Confusion over cannabis
The Scotsman
Friday 19 Sep 2003 THE announcement by the First Minister, that Scotland will definitely not follow England and Wales in effectively decriminalising the personal use of small amounts of cannabis in the home (or at least ignoring such a misdemeanour) came on the same day that a large quantity of cannabis resin was seized in a raid on a Highland school. Many will applaud Mr McConnell for his toughness and his resolution to send out the message that dealing in harmful drugs will not be tolerated. Allied to the decision not to end the prohibition on 24-hour pub-opening and moves in the Scottish Parliament to ban smoking in public, this can be viewed as a determined effort to improve health and brand the culture of drug abuse - regardless of drug - as unacceptable. However, others will see Mr McConnell's stance on cannabis as adding one more anomaly to the numerous anomalies and contradictions surrounding official drug policy. Not least the fact that Scots wishing for a discreet joint need only cross the Border to (metaphorically) thumb their noses at the police - hardly the sort of message Mr McConnell was hoping to send. If anything, having the police treat cannabis use differently on either side of the Border is exactly the sort of official confusion and hypocrisy that young people will smell a mile off. Add that to the fact that tobacco and alcohol - despite being killers - are still legally acceptable, largely for the pragmatic reasons, and Mr McConnell's tough stance will strike some as being close to posturing. In fact, the First Minister personally is deadly serious about the dangers from drug abuse, and is not being cynical in any way. However, he has to face the fact that the war against drugs is - at best - only containing the scourge, and certainly not convincing society that moderate recreational drug-taking (of all kinds) is wrong. That suggests that at some point we all need to confront our hypocrisies. It also suggests that serious anomalies in drug policy between Scotland and the rest of the UK over a sustained period of time will cause more problems than they solve.
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