BLOCKED REPORT SAYS CANNABIS SAFER THAN TOBACCO AND DRINK

THE illegal drug cannabis is safer than tobacco and alcohol, according to a
report which was suppressed by the World Health Organisation.

The analysis, which was due to be part of a report published last December
on the harmful effects of cannabis, was withdrawn at the last minute after
a dispute between WHO officials, the cannabis experts who drafted it and
external advisers.

According to New Scientist magazine, the suppressed report concluded that
not only did the amount of cannabis smoked worldwide do less harm to
public health than drink and cigarettes, but that the same was likely to
hold true even if people consumed it on the same scale as the legal
substances.

In most of the comparisons made in the analysis, cannabis came out better
or at least equal to the other drugs.

In an editorial, New Scientist said that decriminalisation of cannabis was
inevitable. "Politicians will have to bite the bullet - dope will be
decriminalised," it said.

Last night a Home Office spokesman said that the Government did not intend
to review the position of cannabis, which is a controlled drug. The House
of Lords has started its own inquiry, however, and a two-year
investigation into the drug is being carried out by the Police Foundation.

But the evidence led to renewed calls for cannabis to be decriminalised.

Linda Hendry, Scottish spokeswoman for the Legalise Cannabis Campaign,
said: "The New Scientist is saying what we already knew - that cannabis is
not as harmful as other drugs like tobacco and alcohol. We welcome their
findings and hope it adds to the debate."

The New Scientist also publishes data from the Netherlands, where
possession of small amounts of cannabis was legalised in 1976.

According to results, although more people tried cannabis after it was
legalised, the move did not increase the likelihood of people becoming
long-term users.

Holland also had a lower percentage of cannabis and hard drug users than
many other European countries, including Britain. The study also showed
the number of hard drug addicts in Holland had not increased for a decade
while their average age was rising.

The New Scientist said the controversial analysis was withdrawn because
there were fears that it would give ammunition to the "legalise marijuana"
campaign.

It is understood that advisers from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse
and the UN International Drug Control Programme warned the WHO that it
would play into the hands of groups campaigning to legalise marijuana,
said the report.

Dr Maristela Monteiro, a scientist with the WHO programme on substance
abuse, confirmed that the analysis was dropped from the report but denied
the organisation had been pressured into doing it.

She said: "There were problems with that chapter. It was not a fair
comparison from our point of view and from a public health perspective it
was not very useful. We thought it was biased towards showing less harm
from cannabis."

She said the WHO was working with the Addiction Research Foundation in
Canada and planned to publish a book on cannabis in June.

The report also sparked repeated calls for further research into the
potential effects of decriminalising cannabis. The British Medical
Association, last year called for more research into the use of certain
derivatives of cannabis for medicinal use., following some anecdotal
evidence that the drug can help people with conditions including glaucoma
and multiple sclerosis.

The Church of Scotland yesterday repeated its call for cannabis to be
decriminalised. Ann Allen, convener of the board of social responsibility,
said: "We do not want cannabis to be legalised but we wish to see those
who have been caught taking it to be diverted from the criminal justice
system and into rehabilitation programmes."

A spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats said: "We welcome the study
and would call on people to look calmly at it and make a reasoned
judgment."

"We feel there should be a Royal Commission on drugs. We are the only party
who has considered the issue seriously at all, and not just gone for the
emotional line of instantly dismissing any idea that it should even be
discussed.

"That, of course, stops short of any idea that it should definitely be
decriminalised."

Peter Wishart, the Scottish National Party spokesman on drugs, said: "The
SNP believe there's a case to be made for the decriminalisation of
cannabis, but it is not an argument we are convinced by at this stage.