CANNABIS: A GOOD (BUT WRONG) MOVE

Well Done, the Cabinet: They've Taken a Decision That Goes Against
the Experts' Advice

As expected, the Government announced yesterday that it will overrule
its own advisers and reclassify cannabis as a Class B substance. This
will "send out a message" that the drug can be dangerous. As I'm sure
the criminal law is not the way to do this, why does something in me
raise a quiet cheer? It's not as if the Government's right. This diary
inveighs ceaselessly against the "sending out a message" school of
lawmaking. The Government had asked its Advisory Council on the Misuse
of Drugs, experts in their field, a clear question; and they had given
a clear answer.

Reclassification was unwise. Ministers are unwise now to propose it.
But what I cheer is this: that the Cabinet has taken its own decision
after hearing, but refusing to rubber-stamp, the recommendations of an
unelected body.

Advisers advise. Ministers decide. This is how it should be. A
tendency has grown (perhaps in line with our diminishing respect for
politicians) for governments to farm out tough decisions to bodies of
experts, lawyers or retired judges - abdicating to "the science", the
judges or the professionals, a politician's democratic responsibility
to make the final choice.

When last year a committee of experts recommended Manchester rather
than Blackpool for the (now abandoned) supercasino, I longed to see
the Secretary of State, Tessa Jowell, stand up in the Commons and say
she'd received the advice but chose Blackpool anyway, because she
thought her experts were wrong.

So those like me who have no doubt that cannabis should stay in Class
C can console ourselves at least with this: that the present Cabinet
will never again be able to duck behind a panel of advisers when
challenged on an unpopular decision. If they can overrule this most
impressive of advisory councils, they can overrule any others.