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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Rising cannabis use prompts call for war on drugs 'epidemic' Douglas Fraser And Lucy Adams The Herald, Glasgow Friday 21 Jan 2005 RISING cannabis and cocaine use was yesterday attacked by a senior Tory as an "epidemic" requiring a war on drugs, after The Herald's report that the changed legal status of soft drugs had fuelled an explosion in marijuana use. But backers of cannabis legalisation argued that the growth in police seizures of home-grown plants was down to smokers wanting to get away from unreliable sources of the drug, as it is sold by dealers of class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine. The news of a growth in use and cultivation, since marijuana's status as an illegal narcotic was downgraded in 2003, was followed yesterday with evidence from a survey of Edinburgh University students showing an alarming level of cocaine use. The Student newspaper found that nearly one-quarter of students asked in its poll of 500 students had tried cocaine, while more than half had smoked cannabis. Although most thought ecstasy to be dangerous, more than a third had taken it. The growing evidence of drug use was seized on by the Conservative Party. Annabel Goldie, the justice spokeswoman, said: "These figures are totally staggering and will shock many people, not least the parents of students at Edinburgh University. "They show the epidemic proportions that drug abuse has reached in Scotland and that we must wage war against drugs, rather than against the lame attempts of the Labour-LibDem executive to try to wish the problem away." Statistics reported yesterday in The Herald showed that police seizures of cannabis plants has more than doubled in Strathclyde in the past year from 742 in a full year to 1715 plants in the last nine months. In Tayside police area, there has been a six-fold increase. Professor Neil McKeganey, of the Centre for Drug Misuse at Glasgow University, last night warned that the figures highlighted problems in government drugs policy. "This data is really concerning," he said. "Scotland arguably has one of the highest levels of cannabis use in Europe and we need to find ways of reducing it." A spokesman for the Scottish Socialist Party, which backs legalisation of marijuana, said the exposure of the rapid growth of cannabis plant seizures was significant. "The huge rise in the popularity of home grown cannabis is because of the highly suspect nature of a great deal of the cannabis resin available on the black market," he said.
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