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PM to ignore advice on cannabis reform



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Published Date: 29 April 2008
By James Tapsfield
GORDON Brown will press ahead with toughening up cannabis laws, despite claims there is no scientific basis for a change, it emerged yesterday.
The government is to reject recommendations from a high-powered group of advisers, who believe it should stay a "soft" drug.

It is thought the Prime Minister sees the move as vital in sending a message to young people that cannabis is harmful and
linked to serious crime.

A final report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) was delivered to the Home Office yesterday, but the government's response will not be announced until next week at the earliest.

The experts – including doctors, police, judges and drug counsellors – are understood to have concluded cannabis should remain a Class C drug. However, Whitehall sources indicated Mr Brown was ready to push through reclassification to Class B. Going against the ACMD's decision could spark a massive row and trigger resignations from the committee, which plays a crucial role in setting Britain's drug policy.

Chris Huhne, the Lib Dems' home affairs spokesman, demanded the publication of the panel's recommendations as "there should be nothing secret abut the advice given to ministers on this issue".





The full article contains 204 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 28 April 2008 10:24 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Boggle fey the Bog,

29/04/2008 01:13:52
This remember is the 'Listening Man'!!!
2

An Beal Bacht,

29/04/2008 03:19:20
I am so sick of these nanny politicians. What was it Gordo - did the Americans demand you get with the programme? That was it wasn't it? Once a yes man always a yes man.
3

Derek23,

Norwich 29/04/2008 09:11:20
Brown is not only showing himself to be a walking disaster area but also signs of being a very real danger to society as well. There is no place in a democracy for a leader – especially an unelected leader - to impose his will based on nothing more than his own repulsive "moral" values.

Brown knows nothing about drugs and has clearly ignored all the evidence of what works and what doesn’t. If he does put cannabis back to B he will demonstrate very clearly that UK drugs policy is not evidence based, indeed is based on nothing but ignorance and prejudice.

And the real irony is the one group of people who couldn't care less what class cannabis is in are the users, the one group all this stupidity is aimed at..

In truth cannabis, whatever class it's in - is not a controlled drug because it's illegal. Returning it to B will do nothing to solve the problems caused by its illegality.
4

Horrible Cankers at the Cyber Shebeen,

29/04/2008 09:21:34
Waste of time...energy and money....
5

yolanda,

29/04/2008 09:36:41
Yet another example of the government's inability to take advice. What's the point in asking expert advice if you are simply going to go against all the evidence. Cannabis is not a safe drug. Like all others, it has risks attached, but there is plenty of evidence to show that cannabis users generally do not committ crimes to fund their use, and therefore it is not in the publc interest for the police and criminal justice system to spend a great deal of time and money on it as a Class B drug. There is also evidence to show that people will generally not make their choices dependent on whether a drug is Class A or Class B. They don't care. They will either take the drug or not. The penalty for supply is the same for both anyway. What a waste of time and money!
6

Iain's,

29/04/2008 09:43:53
Queen Victoria was a laudanum addict. She woman would have been jailed by Gordon.

Lets be tough on crime and jail all the addicts. That way it will look as if we are doing something.
Addicts are stupid victims, but is is easier to get them that the big drug wholesalers. And safer!
Lets face it our pathetic criminal justice system had to put one well known addict in solitary to protect him from drug peddlers in JAIL!
7

yolanda,

29/04/2008 09:48:25
Sorry, Typo in in #5 I meant to say people generally don't care if it is Class B or Class C...
8

magic dragon,

29/04/2008 11:42:08
Just who is paying the piper? Let`s see.. nearly all the major pharmeceutical companies are marketing "extracts of cannabis" or "synthetic cannabinoids," such as sativex, drabinol and marinol.
Their cannabis, according to press releases, is an excellent medicine, used as a calmant, a sedative, a pain killer, a sleeping aid, an appetite stimulant, and so on.
Cannabis was legal until the 1930`s, and was widely considered as having excellent medicinal properties, and cheap to produce.
Of course, when private citizens buy cannabis from other sources (non-taxable), then Gordon jumps up and down, and shakes his flabby slack-jawed jowls, just like he is paid so to do.
Education, and safe use, not criminalisation and imprisonment should be the issue.
9

jacabite view,

29/04/2008 12:40:25
Just tax the waste of spaces.
10

Guga II,

Rockall 29/04/2008 14:38:59
Maggie Broon is a "son of the manse"; then again, so was Vidkun Quisling, and he "listened" to the people as much as Broon did.
11

,

29/04/2008 15:10:03
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
12

Miss Dee,

Tayside 29/04/2008 16:35:33
When Mr. Brown wants to send a message to citizens that cannabis is unacceptable- he passes a law to upgrade it and put users in jail. When Mr. Brown wants to send a message to banks that atavistic greed is unacceptable, he gives them billions of pounds. There really is no hope.
13

The Former Mr. Angry,

Perth 29/04/2008 17:28:45
Of all the statements this dumpling has made recently this is the only one I agree with him on. The rest of his outpourings are just socialist rubbish. Mind you if this an example of him in "listening mode" doesn't say much for his other efforts in this direction. Time for him to take his leave anyway.

 

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