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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: 'An exercise in political cynicism'
The Guardian
Monday 19 Jan 2004 The downgrading of cannabis will do nothing but confuse people Observer Editorial, January 18 "The application of the law on cannabis is a muddle. You may believe that the decision to downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C drug ... means it is no longer illegal to possess and use cannabis ... Last week, Sir John Stevens, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, admitted the situation was confusing and told us possession could still lead to two years' imprisonment ... "The government is trying to be pragmatic about cannabis use. Millions use it in moderation for pleasure and to stigmatise law-abiding citizens with a criminal record is silly; cannabis use is here to stay. And yet the government and most parents fear, with good reason, that further liberalisation would lead to an explosion of use. Hence the retention of the threat of arrest. If this is too confusing for the public and the police, then the way forward has to be towards full decriminalisation. To work, this must go hand in hand with a vigorous education campaign on the dangers of drug abuse ... "There are important benefits to further liberalisation, including putting the currently murky business under public scrutiny ... Decriminalising a drug is not a declaration that it is safe, as we know when we warn children against the dangers of tobacco and alcohol. Cannabis may be a real danger to health. But its use should not be a crime." Independent on Sunday Editorial, January 18 "[The downgrading is] a move that will make little practical difference beyond generating confusion over its precise legal status. "That you will be able to use cannabis in your own home without fear of arrest is neither here nor there. Using it in public remains illegal - yet clearly different police forces will have differing attitudes, and that is not helpful either. The government seems to be seeking easy headlines without deciding whether the drug should be decriminalised altogether. Until a clear policy is applied everywhere, the approach will seem muddle-headed: a state of mind not unfamiliar to those who have smoked too many spliffs." Simon Jenkins Evening Standard, London, January 15 "Home Secretary David Blunkett thought he might garner a few cool votes by reclassifying cannabis from B to C. This would have made cannabis possession a non-arrestable offence. But he negated this decision by making possession of class C drugs also arrestable. It was all an exercise in political cynicism. While I can see a point in seeming to remain tough, while helping the police concentrate on hard drugs, I can see no point in appearing soft while actually making no change. Does Mr Blunkett want to trick thousands more young people into prison? Everyone is now confused ... "Nobody, be they tough or tender, is going to stop Londoners using drugs. All that can be reduced is the harm that they cause. This harm lies in drug adulteration and the escalation of drug use. It lies in crime and the outlawing of thousands of otherwise ordinary citizens. Such harm can be reduced only when drugs outlets are regulated and licensed and London's ubiquitous informal drugs trade eased out of business ... "We grit our teeth and bring this whole free market under some sort of control, as other countries are now struggling to do. Or we shrug and accept London's anarchic reputation as the drugs capital of Europe." Kate Hoey Mail on Sunday, January 18 "As MP for the London constituency of Vauxhall, I have seen the havoc caused by a policy predetermined by those whose agenda is all about legalisation. The scheme introduced [in Lambeth] by Commander Brian Paddick in the summer of 2001, known as the Possession of Cannabis Pilot, meant that anyone caught with a small amount of cannabis received only a verbal warning, supposedly leaving the police more time to tackle hard drugs and other serious crime. What it actually achieved was a serious undermining of law and order and a significant increase in drug usage by young people ... "Parents often tell me how undermined they feel in trying to prevent their children using cannabis when the establishment is sending the message that it is not harmful ... What will Britain be like when there is whole generation of people ... for whom cannbis is not a youthful indulgence but a destructive addiction? It is irresponsible for the government to go ahead with declassification. The mixed messages this sends out will leave our children confused ... "Reclassification will move this country further down the route of considering drug abuse normal. We are on a slippery slope. Time, perhaps, for the prime minister to use his reverse gear." Daily Mail Editorial, January 15 "So this is what happens when the police take the law on cannabis less seriously. In the London borough of Lambeth the experiment of a softly-softly approach to the drug led to an explosion in its use. From the end of this month the Lambeth approach will be effectively introduced across the country ... "There is a real danger that cannabis use ... will soar as teenagers assume they are safe from arrest and that it is acceptable to use the drug. From whatever angle this is looked at, it is a totally wrongheaded reform." --=======6D5CE3=======--
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