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UK: Legalise cannabis, says experimental professor

Venetia Ansell and Joanna Sugden

Cherwell Online

Friday 23 Jan 2004

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An Oxford Professor of pharmacology has lent his support to the complete
legalisation of cannabis, admitting that he has used the drug himself.

Professor Leslie Iversen told Cherwell that the downgrading of cannabis
from a class B to a class C drug, to become operational on 29th January,
was 'sensible and long overdue.' The Professor had advised a House of Lords
committee on the reclassification five years ago.

Iversen, author of 'The Science of Marijuana,' denounced the media attention
given to studies on the mental side-effects of smoking cannabis as 'horror
stories generated to grab people's attention.'

He is strongly believes that recreational users should not 'penalised under
a harsh criminal system' for the sake of protecting a 'vulnerable
minority.' When asked if he would smoke cannabis if it were legal, the
Professor remarked that he was unlikely to become 'a regular user; I've
tried it a couple of times and I don't like it.'

Iverson has criticised research done by a Professor Murray of the Institute
of Psychiatry, which shows an increased risk of schizophrenia in heavy
smokers aged 12-14 years. However, Baroness Susan Greenfield, an expert on
brain processes and Iversen's colleague, has also warned that 50% of young
people attending psychiatric services are cannabis users.

Iversen prefers the Netherlands's 'Coffee Shop' scene to the currently
unmonitored supply in the UK. The Professor sees the enforced 'exposure to
the criminal underworld' as the precursor to use of harder drugs, and doubts
there would be an increase in use were the drug to become legal. Under the
new law, anyone aged 17 or under caught in possession of the drug will be
arrested, but other users will have the drug confiscated in the absence of
'aggravating circumstances,' which include smoking in a public place.

Oxford second-year, Simon, says the new laws will have no effect on his
cannabis habit, which he claims is 'not work-inducing, but a nice treat
afterwards.'

 

 

 

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