DOPE'S POLICY?

Millions of Britons smoke cannabis occasionally, and manage to
function. It has been part of the cultural landscape for over 40
years, argues David Matthews

Last week the body charged with advising the government on the
re-reclassification of cannabis from Class C back to Class B met to
consider the latest diktat that Britain needs to get tough on soft drugs.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), an independent
expert body that advises the government on drug related issues in the
UK, has previously maintained that cannabis should remain a Class C drug.

But if the government gets its way and the ACMD sanctions a policy
U-turn on its behalf nothing will change. All the evidence shows that
tightening the law on cannabis has no effect on consumption rates. In
fact, reclassification has led to a decrease in dope use.

Cannabis was downgraded in 2004, and for many smokers and abstainers
alike, this looked like a liberal New Labour move, particularly when
viewed against other very illiberal government policies aimed at
curtailing personal freedom.

A year later, following a request from the then Home Secretary,
Charles Clarke the Advisory Council reviewed its position on the
classification of cannabis, examining in particular the effects of
cannabis on mental health, and claims of increased prevalence of dope
with high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), i.e. "skunk".

The ACMD listened to testimony from scientists to police officers and
concluded that cannabis should remain a Class C drug. But the
lobbyists are back on the attack.

The Association of Chief Police Officers has a simple twofold
argument for reclassification. It says: "... a rise in cannabis
farms, and an undercurrent in the market which suggests more harmful
health effects," means that the dope laws need to be tweaked.

Some 2000 domestic cannabis farms have been raided in the last 12
months, many of which are run by Southeast Asian criminal gangs. So
much home grown skunk is now being produced that Britain is on the
brink of becoming a net exporter of dope.

The police want to send out clear message: Britain is not in the
business of cultivating marijuana. But coming on the back of changes
to stop and search policy, reclassification will make it easier for
the police to "profile" and search youths. All of a sudden, finding a
couple of spliffs in a kid's back pocket will be the end that
justifies the means.

As for Jacqui Smith, she knows which way the wind is blowing. She is
the fourth Home Secretary to oversee the reclassification issue in as
many years.

Since reclassification there has been an increasing focus on feral
youths, teenage delinquency and juvenile violence. Add to this
growing youth unemployment, teen pregnancies and of course drug and
alcohol abuse and Ms Smith must react. Something must be to blame.
And that something is drugs.

In her letter of July 2007 to the ACMD, in which she invited them to
carry out this latest dope study, Ms Smith admitted, "... statistics
show that cannabis use has fallen significantly". But she added the
caveat, "... there is a real public concern about the potential
mental health effects of cannabis use, in particular the use of
stronger forms of the drug, commonly known as skunk".

Is there really public concern about the use of dope; or is it
concern about the social factors that nurture dope smoking? For a
government struggling to come to terms with the causes of drug abuse,
it is much easier, in PR terms at least to concentrate on effect.

On the mental health issue both Ms Smith and the police have a point.
More and more health and counselling agencies are seeing young people
presenting with mental health problems that stem from chronic dope
smoking. Some research suggests that up to 75 per cent of
drug-induced mental health problems relate to cannabis use.

But the government's flip flopping over cannabis classification, like
that with stop and search, is doomed to failure.

It is the frequency and amount of dope smoked that is the issue. As
Morgan Spurlock illustrated in Super Size Me, living on Big Macs is
not conducive to healthy living.

The overuse and abuse of weed by often unemployed, idle, bored,
poorly educated and despondent youths, who spend every waking hour
getting wasted has tightened the relationship between dope and mental
health issues.

The fact that skunk is relatively cheap and is often used in
combination with other drugs or cheap alcohol, and is a useful
commodity for teenagers to trade (whether as career criminals or
part-time dope dealers to supplement their meagre wages or benefits)
has also made dope the drug of choice for Britain's youth.

Millions of Britons smoke dope occasionally, and manage to function.
It has been part of the cultural landscape for more than 40 years.
Those that make it their vice will always find the ways and means to
smoke, and evade the law.

Instead of tinkering with classification, the government should think
more creatively about how it can give a growing number of feckless
youths something meaningful to do with their lives rather than get
wasted day in day out.