08/08/2007 00:00:00
UK: Drugs policy goes up in smoke
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Former cannabis users appear to be crawling out of the woodwork on a
regular basis. Since the new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith admitted that
her time at university was not entirely spent doing essays but was mixed
with a bit of dope smoking, a number of fellow cabinet ministers outed
themselves. These political announcements have followed a change in
policy from the UK government on drug classification. It appears that
the university students of the 1970s and early 80s that make up the
current cabinet have decided the rather insipid drug of choice from
their youth is different to today’s more potent formula. This
realisation looks set to ensure that cannabis will be reclassified as a
class B drug after the previous relaxation to class C in 2001.
The reason given for this u-turn is the strength of new strains of
cannabis particularly home-grown skunk. This week Third Force News
reports that the Scottish Drugs Forum, are claiming the risks of
becoming ill from smoking cheap resin cannabis are more realistic than
developing mental health problems from smoking skunk. They may well have
a point. Certainly the use of relatively cheap ‘soapbar’ cannabis is
more prevalent than its more expensive hydroponically grown herbal
cousins and its use is getting to be endemic with young people.
However, this is not a one thing or another issue and it’s about time
people were more honest about the health effects of drugs. Drug dealers
do not test for quality or the health effects of their products. Most
street drugs are adulterated to some extent and the criminals that
produce them don’t care one iota if their user base gets ill, either in
the long term or the short term. There are medical reasons for using
cannabis and its use should be taken away from the grip of criminals but
it’s time for people to realise that there is increasingly no such thing
as a harmless bit of puff.
http://gymedia.wordpress.com/2007/08/08/drugs-policy-goes-up-in-smoke/
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12776
Author:
GY Media via UKCIA
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